Monster Girl Quest: Sacred and Profane
by Losenis
Summary: Even though a certain 'Hero' and a powerful monster had been traveling the world and doing their deeds, the world itself had not been left in stasis. It kept on changing, living, with its own people doing their own deeds. In San Ilia, another person would soon experience what the Hero and the Monster had caused, or more specifically revealed. (No, there's no porn.)
1. Chapter 1: Defence of San Ilia

San Ilia. A kingdom that holds high respect for Ilias herself, thus being named after her. It was simply another bright day in this kingdom, specifically the lands near San Ilia Castle. In its streets, a simple soldier clad in armor non-chalantly patrolled, although it was rather similar to simply having a stroll around since there wasn't much activity to look out for except for the strange and sudden appearance of ghosts and fairies the soldier has been seeing days ago. Richard was his name, sporting armor and equipment far different than other men: A close helmet with mail attached to it that made the impression of a scarf; a mail that covered his torso and reached down to his thighs, covered by a dark blue surcoat with San Ilia's heraldy on it; gauntlets with armor that reached up to his shoulders, with his left pauldron being slightly bigger and pronounced than his left; greaves over his trousers; a shield slung over his back; and a belt that had his dagger, sword, and several pouches attached to it.

Richard had a simple trait that differentiated him from other soldiers, but it wasn't strength nor intelligence. He was unbaptized. It wasn't a strange trait either, there were many unbaptized men and they, like Richard, were put to good use, at least in San Ilia. Men like him who volunteered into the military forces were trained in a different way to maximize the opportunities their trait gave them. Unfortunately, their trait meant that monsters would try to feed off them at most opportunities, but this meant that they'd not try to kill them at first. With this opportunity, the unbaptized would purposefully use themselves as bait to gain a slight advantage at the beginning of each fight: Monsters would fight against them simply for nourishment, but the unbaptized would fight for their lives. The monsters would not fight against the unbaptized with all their strength or else they'd risk killing their prey and rendering it useless, it is then when the men have the advantage.

Unfortunately, this rarely works due to the seductive attacks of the monsters. And even with the advantage the unbaptized have, most of the time the strength difference is too great, making it a luck-dependant battle.

Richard knew this, as so did others, but it wasn't something that could be changed. Shamefully, most members of The Unbaptized simply joined for the intercourse. Richard's intentions were not lustful however, reflected by his armor which was made specifically for him. A sad fact, since most recruits are given standard armor due to not being trusted enough for true combat against monsters. Those who pass such 'test' by slaying monsters earn the military's favor and are allowed to requisition better equipment. The low number of unbaptized men, and even lower number of successful recruits, allowed such logistical hassle to be bearable for the quartermasters.

The steel-clad soldier kept on walking through the streets near the castle, looking around at the scenery of the people moving one way to the other, others talking and trading among themselves, and the not so unusual sight of a drunken brawl. He saw something else, however. The sight of a soldier running towards the castle, with speed that showed it was something of great importance. Simply tilting his head slightly to the side Richard questioned what his hurry would be. Having no other current tasks, he decided to head near the entrace to the castle and wait while staring at the structure. After the Monster Lord's attack, the security in San Ilia's castle was increased to the point where only previously authorized personnel were allowed inside. Sighing, he turned to the two guards that protected the doors and walked up to them.

"What was his hurry?" Richard asked, his voice echoing through his helmet.

"No idea." One of the guards answered. "He was panting, though. Looks like he ran all the way here without rest. I'm guessing it's important."

"What's with the helmet?" The other guard asked. "Are you going to have it on forever?"

"Unless you want me to show you how I killed a Minotauros with a bent tea spoon, I suggest you to shut up."

"Point... Taken."

Fortunately for Richard, they believed what he said about the Minotauros. They recognized he was an unbaptized who had slayed his fair share of monsters, but that's all. Everyone holds high respect for the unbaptized who have shown their strength, but it's simply because they expect everyone else to be willingly preyed upon. To be unbaptized was already a sign of uncleanliness, but those who joined the military and passed through the test were seen as seeking redemption.

After a few minutes of standing around and talking, Richard and the two guards saw how a small number of messengers ran out of the castle, with one heading directly to Richard.

"Urgent news. You're required at the walls. Head there immediately and wait for the rest of your unit."

Without even allowing Richard to react, the messenger raced off to the distance.

Richard and the guards simply looked at each other before parting ways. As Richard walked to the walls, he simply wondered what might be going on. Perhaps a monster attacking that required his unit's attention, or a hunt for a monster far away.

* * *

Once Richard was at seeing distance of the walls, he saw a great movement of soldiers, with the sound of yelling being heard at such distance. Knights on horse and dismounted ones, with spearmen and swordsmen gathering in formation near the gates. Not seconds later after starting to wonder what this gathering might mean, another soldier arrived next to him.

"That armor... Are you Richard?"

"Yes."

"Your unit's on the streetway directly in front of the gates. They're gathering there."

"Understood. I've got a few questions."

"Ask away, but hurry."

"What's going on?"

"You weren't told?"

"...No?"

The soldier sighed.

"We're under attack."

"Quite a rush for a few monsters."

"No, not a few monsters. It's... Well, 'a massive wave of unknown insect-type monsters' according to the reports."

"...What?"

"I can't get a clear view from here because of the walls, but those monsters aren't in the catalogs. They probably number the hundreds if not thousands."

"Then why was the unit I'm in called? We can't fight against numbers greater than ours."

"They can't take risks." The soldier stated before running off.

"God dammit..." Richard cursed before running off to the rest of his unit.

After a while of running, he reached them. 19 unbaptized men like him, who proved their strength and control in other opportunities. They were not standarized, however, their armor and equipment varied greatly. Some had bows and crossbows, others battleaxes and spears and other varieties of weapons. More than a unit, they were a tiny strikeforce.

"Took your damn time, Rick. You're the last one to arrive." The unit's captain greeted him. "We are-"

"I already know the situation." Richard retorted. "What are we going to do?"

"I was given freedom to use this unit as I see fit in battle without a chain of command. We don't have enough men to be a real unit, but 20 more men anywhere always helps. Maybe we can bait the monsters to attack us while the others scratch their ballsacks and be useless."

"I like that plan." Another member of the unit yelled while laughing.

"Since we're useless against great numbers, we're going to get on top of those walls and pick off those monsters as they climb it hoping they don't break through the gate first. Then, if we get overrun, we'll fall back and let the army deal with them. We'll deal with any insect that manages to run through. Unit, march!"

They all marched towards the door behind the city wall to walk up the staircase inside and reach the top of the wall. Once they reached the top, they left the wall tower that contained the staircase and remained at the top of the walls, with archers standing behind the battlements.

"Oh, good, the kids arrived..." An archer sarcastically whispered to himself upon seeing the unbaptized.

"Remember what I told you all?" The unbaptized captain questioned. "They'll scratch their ballsacks and be useless."

Everyone in the unit laughed.

Richard pushed his way to the battlements and looked at the distance to see the insects that he was told about. His slight laughter dropped to shock upon seeing those insects, which he had never seen before nor heard of, marching furiously towards the walls without a hint of exhaustion.

"What in the king's name are those things?" He asked himself, only to be startled when the archers' captain, who was nearby, yelled at his unit to prepare their bows. He quickly pushed himself to the back of the archer line, meeting the other unbaptized men again.

"What did you see, Rick?" The captain questioned.

"I... Don't know."

"What do you mean? You just saw them. What are they?"

"I don't know. I don't know what those things are, I've never seen them before."

"Fire!" The archers' captain yelled, releasing a volley against the insects.

"You never saw them? So they're something new?" The unbaptized captain continued talking.

"Maybe. But it's still unnatural that there are so many of them. And attacking us. Insects... Insects... Do you think they're from plansect-"

"The arrows aren't doing shit!" An archer yelled.

"Keep firing!" Another retorted.

"They're not even flinching!"

"You want me to get a catapult and use you as ammo?! Maybe that'll work!"

"Uhhh... Guys..." An unbaptized spoke while looking down the battlements.

"What?" Three other unbaptized questioned.

"The insects are halfway up the wall..."

"Unit, forward! Deal with them as they appear over the battlements!" The unbaptized captain desperately yelled, surprised that the insects covered such distance in so little time. At his command, his unit marched forward and took positions behind the battlements while the archers relocated. They'd not cover the entire wall due to their numbers, but it was close enough to the door that led to the tower to avoid the line of withdrawal to be cut. The other archers would deal with the insects that rose at the other parts.

"How far are they-" Richard asked himself while unsheathing his sword and shield and leaning over the parapet, only to jerk back in fright as he saw one of the insects rise over the battlement. A grotesque-looking insect which was as tall a human, with parts of its body covered by carapaces similar to a cockroach. What was revealed of its green-tinted skin looked like it was rotting, with very pronounced veins. It looked more like an abomination, an abortion of an experiment to mix a cockroach with a human, but worst of all its facial characteristics were similar to those of a human female without any expression at all. It truly looked like it was a literal monster.

Instinctively, Richard quickly gripped his sword tighter and rammed it against its torso, causing it to dig deep into it. It didn't react however, it didn't even flinch and moved closer to Richard as if nothing had happened. Despairing, Richard kicked it away with his leg to free his stuck sword, and bashed it with his shield to make it trip over the battlements to her demise. There weren't high hopes it'd do anything to stop it, though.

After standing a few seconds in shock, Richard came to his senses. "Our weapons don't do anything! Forget about killing them, kick them over the wall and make them fall as they rise!"

"You expect us to do that forever?!" An archer yelled.

"Oh, of course! You can try getting eaten by it if you want! I'm sure your putrid self will cause them indigestion!" He retorted.

"Pour the oil!" He heard someone yell in the distance, despite the sound of combat drowning out most noises.

He turned his head to the gates, unable to see them due to the walls and the towers, but heard how the oil was poured over the insects. The characteristic sound of high temperature contacting against something colder, hissing as he saw the smoke rise. Curious, he bashed the insect that tried to climb the battlements and caused it to fall, thus leaving him with the opportunity to lean over and see the gates' front from the side.

There they laid on the ground, the charred corpses of the insects who didn't die by conventional means. Other insects replacing them, but soon experiencing the same fate.

"They died like that..." Richard thought to himself while backing off the battlements. "...Hey! Captain!"

"I'm a little busy over here!"

"I know how to kill those things!"

"What?! How?!" The captain questioned after decapitating an insect, only for it to keep going at him, forcing him to bash it with his shield over the battlements.

"The insects died at the gates after they poured the oil over them, they might be weak to heat and fire!"

"Fire..." The captain pondered while rushing to the tower's doorway. "Unit! With me!" He yelled while rushing in and down the staircase. The unbaptized, not questioning his orders, followed suit leaving the archers defending the walls.

"What are you planning, captain?" Richard asked as they met on the streets.

"Okay everyone, listen to me. I want everyone to get every flammable material and arrange them on the streets so that they connect with the houses of this district. We're going to have to sacrifice this area if we want to survive those insects, not even decapitating them seems to work. I don't expect 19 men to do this, so it's your duty to both evacuate this district and tell the citizenry to aid in arming this place like a powder keg. Once you're done, regroup at the other side of the district."

"19? What are you going to do?" An unbaptized interrupted.

"I'm gonna convince the general to do as I say. If we light up the district now, we'll have to fight to the death or burn. That is, if those abominations give us the luxury of death." He explained. "We could run over the walls to safety, true, but then those things would chase us and avoid the fire, rendering it useless. We have to use ourselves as bait, unfortunately. Don't wait for us, though. I'd rather sacrifice a thousand lives than this entire city, and potentially other cities in turn."

"Alright, move! Move!" Richard yelled while running off towards the houses, with everyone following suit.

Upon reaching the first house of his designated area, he kicked the door down to find a family of five, frightened. The sudden attack didn't leave time for the citizenry to evacuate, and much less to understand under what kind of danger they were.

"No time to explain. You all seem fit enough. We're under attack by monsters that are only weak to fire, I need you all to gather everything flammable and place it on the street. Once you're done, do the same with the other houses. Once you finish, you can evacuate."

Without even waiting for a response, Richard left to the house in front of the previous one. He kicked the front door and charged inside, finding a couple with a small child, terrified.

"We're under attack, you need to evacuate this district immediately. Leave your things, they're the least of your worries now."

Without waiting for answer, like the last time, he left seeking another house.

After a while, all the houses in the district were either 'conscripted' or evacuated, leaving a trail of flammable objects like wooden furniture and clothes on the streets to the point where igniting a flame at any point would engulf the entire district in due time.

Richard walked back to the regroup point, seeing a few other unbaptized already waiting there while the others arrived.

"How goes everything?" Richard asked.

"We're all returning, soon everyone will be here except for... Well, the captain. Judging by the rate which we got here, I'd say in a few minutes everyone will arrive."

After waiting and waiting, the rest of the unbaptized arrived save for one, who arrived later with a few men on horseback.

"Fancy group you got there." One of the unbaptized greeted the other.

"We heard about your plan." A guard on horseback spoke. "The fire brigade is ready to put out any fire that'd expand into the rest of the city behind us. We also brought torches. As many as we could."

The guard jumped off his horse and reached for a giant bag with unlit torches sticking out that was tied to the side of his horse. He opened it and took them out, then handed one to each unbaptized, one to each guard, and put the rest back on the bag. "It's sad that it has come to this. Sacrificing an entire district."

"It's just buildings now. The real sacrifice will come if the captain doesn't make it fast enough." Richard stated. "Light it up." He ordered a guard.

The guard lit up his torch with a piece of flint and a rock, then walking up to the others and lighting up their torch in turn.

"What about the captain and the rest?" An unbaptized asked.

"Let's leave that to luck. Fire won't spread instantly, they have that opportunity." Richard answered. "Alright, everyone start lighting up the streets. Let's-"

His instructions were interrupted by the sound of a metallic object being broken in the distance. Considering the only metallic object capable of such sound was too far away, the sound was devastatingly loud if it could be heard from the unbaptized's position. There was no doubt that it was the gate.

"No time to lose, move it!" One of the guards yelled while mounting his horse and riding off to the edge of the district with his torch, with the other guards following on horseback.

Richard walked to the street he just arrived from, now void of life and movement, littered to the point it was difficult to walk on. Silently, he raised his torch above him and began lighting up the roof of one house, followed by the walls and then the objects below him, stepping away. He back off the way he came from and allowed the flames to spread out towards the district. An unfortunate turn of events. He kept walking over the border of the district, bringing flames to the buildings and letting the fire spread further, hoping that his captain and the men would arrive faster than the flames would.

None arrived yet.

He kept carrying out his duty, wondering if the gates breaking was because of the overwhelming power of the insects, or because the men fell back and withdrawed leaving the gate undefended. The former would be bad news, while the later would be their hope of survival. However, as much as he'd like them to have withdrawn, it was simpy wishful thinking, it'd not change the outcome that they had chosen.

Only time would tell, with the crackling and sparking of the fire, the intense heat and the dark, red-tinted toxic smoke surrounding the district.

* * *

"Richard Thomas Taylor-Smith Lawrence. Age, 25. Charged of cutting off the defending force's withdrawal path, which was subsequently annihilated completely by the insect invaders. Victims include citizens, the general himself, and captain of 'The Unbaptized'. What do you declare youself as?"

"...Guilty."

Richard sat in front of a table with his hands tied in front of him, with his shield on his back but his weapons removed. In front of him sat the judge behind his desk. Next to him on their own table, his subordinates. Behind Richard and on the sides of the room, the citizens, guards, soldiers who were off-duty, and the remaining members of 'The Unbaptized'.

Guilty. Richard named himself guilty by his own will. In his mind, he had more reasons to call himself guilty than not, for he didn't have much to lose apart from his life. After all, he didn't really know why he joined The Unbaptized, nor remembering anything before joining it. He fought for nothing, whereas the others fought for something.

"Guilty..." The judge spoke. "Then by the powers granted to me by the King, and by Ilias herself, I sentence this soul to be hanged tomorrow, first light of the day. May Ilias have mercy on him for we-"

"Your majesty." An unbaptized interrupted. "I have the means to prove him innocent."

"He already declared himself guilty."

"He's lying to protect the others, your majesty. As any other person would if their people were in harm's way. If you'd allow me to proceed, I'll explain everything in detail."

The judge sighed. "You have my permission. Go ahead."

"There is a reason the captain of The Unbaptized died in the frontline while we were... Burning the district. We had been ordered to do so, and with good reason. The reason why our captain was away from his unit was to convince the general to fall back and let the monsters chase them through the fire. Unfortunately, something beyond our knowledge prevented such strategy from occurring. We were told to burn the district no matter how the army behaved, and so we did. We burned the district, hoping that they'd fall back through the fire, but such thing was simply hope, nothing happened."

"And why did your captain decide to burn the district instead of fighting or coming up with another less risky solution...?"

"Those insects, your majesty, were nothing we have ever seen. They're not in the catalogues either. Their only weakness was fire, and The Unbaptized knows this from personal experience. Our weapons did nothing to them. The arrows struck them with no effect, they didn't even flinch. A sword in the torso couldn't stop them, it seemed that they couldn't feel pain nor be hindered by such wound. Worse yet, our captain decapitated one of them but it still fought on. Our only solution was to kick them over the battlements as they climbed the wall, but it was a temporary solution for they'd climb it again. It was a clear defeat that only needed time at that point, until we saw how the oil that was poured upon them killed them. We realized that heat, and in turn fire was their weakness. Then, our captain came up with such plan. As I said, we were told to burn the district and not wait for him or the army. If we waited too much, there was the possibility of those insects breaking through and overwhelming the city."

The judge remained silent, as so did his subordinates.

"Unfortunately, we have no way to prove that your words hold truth. Your unit was the only one who remained alive from that attack, so we have no way to prove it from others."

The Unbaptized's expression lowered to sorrow, seeing as the words that one gave were not enough.

"I'll give your unit the benefit of doubt, Richard. But still, I can't let you all go as if nothing had happened." The judge spoke. Then, he turned to one of his subordinates to speak.

After a minute of talk, he turned towards the public. "Is there anything anyone would like to add?"

Nobody answered.

"It is decided, then... By the powers given to me by the King and Ilias herself, I sentence Richard Thomas Taylor-Smith Lawrence and the rest of The Unbaptized to fulfill the role their unit is performing until death."

"Until death, huh..." Richard whispered to himself while a guard walked over and untied his hands, while another one brought his missing weapons to him. There was no fear of him running away while taking a few heads with him due to what had been said in the courtroom, and because it'd be only 19 men against an entire city.

After being escorted from his seat to the doors of the courtroom, walking through them, he was met with both good and bad events. On one hand, the remaining Unbaptized who knew what happened and were on his side, while in the other hand those who believed Richard and the Unbaptized were traitors, who yelled curses at them. They didn't dare to throw rotten food or blunt objects due to the guards, though.

"You nearly got yourself killed there." An unbaptized greeted. "You're lucky that lad stood up for you."

"Until death..." Richard muttered to himself.

"Say... Do you think the captain couldn't convince them?"

"He convinced them."

"How do you know?"

"Remember what he said before running off? They could've escaped over the walls, yet they didn't. The archers were at the walls, they could've ran off, yet they didn't. They stood their ground... But after realizing that they were cut off without escape."

"And we couldn't wait either..."

"Forget about it."

"How could we forget such thing that happened?!"

"I don't mean forget it completely. I mean stop bringing so much importance to it. It happened. You won't change it with regret. You can't do anything about what happened. What you can do is learn from the mistakes and make sure it doesn't happen again."

"...Fine..."

Richard stood still for a moment, thinking over his own words. After a while, he turned towards one of the guards and grabbed his attention.

"You need something?" The guard asked. He didn't ask violently, but not favourably either. He wasn't on either side of the event due to the lack of knowledge regarding it.

"Escort us to the gates."

"Are you planning to escape?" He smirked.

"Guards have horses. We don't. We can't run."

"Alright, as you say. Men, we're getting them to the gates! Formation!"

"What are you gonna do?" The unbaptized asked.

"Search for answers."

With the aid of the guards, they broke through the horde of furious citizens who blamed them for the annihilation of the army. Not after long, the citizenry stopped following them, being alone by themselves by the time they reached the scorched remains of the burnt district.

They walked into the districts, their steps digging into the ashes and emiting the characteristic sound of ashes being stepped on. Smoke was no longer emitted by the burnt buildings nor the streets, but the stench remained. It was an unnerving image of what happened and how many lives were lost. The feeling intensified tenfold as they began seeing charred remains of citizens who had not managed to escape, soldiers who died in the fire and combat, and the insect monsters that the fire killed. At first they only saw human remains, completely burnt by the fire, but as they progressed further the amount of corpses that were both human and insect increased dramatically, as if those from before were simply those who ran away. Hundreds upon hundreds of human and insect bodies littered the streets of the district, indicating that the main fighting had occurred here.

"So..." Richard sighed while crouching next to the remains of a human soldier. "Tell me your story..."

He looked at it, trying to find something of interest. It was charred to the point that identification was impossible by simple looks. It had great wound on his torso and neck, with his shield on his hand and sword nearby. He died fighting.

Richard stood up and looked at the nearby insect monster corpse while drawing his sword and walking up to it afterwards. It was also charred, but barely had any wound. The only wounds it had were only superficial, not fatal nor damaging by human standards. He pointed the sword at its torso and pushed, slightly digging the tip of his sword and moving it in a line, making a deep cut. It wasn't difficult at all, and that intrigued him. He did the same with the insect's carapace, uncannily similar to that of a cockroach. No difficulty either, it seemed as if it was purely for looks.

"Guys." An unbaptized called out. "I... I found the captain..." He stated in a voice void of emotion.

The Unbaptized gathered around him and looked below, only to see a charred body that had a very distinctive armor, a customized one, and one the others would recognize anywhere. It truly was the captain.

"Dammit..." One of them whispered.

"Is that...? The one next to him..." Another spoke.

Next to the captain was another body, with an adorned armor and shield with markings that revealed heraldy. At plain sight, it could be said it belonged to a very high ranked man.

"That guy's the general." An unbaptized stated. "So, the captain truly told the general... They simply didn't make it..."

"It's still good." Richard spoke up. "Had he not told him, or if the general rejected his plan, the men would have escaped over the walls into the city due to the fire cutting off the streets. The insects would have followed them and we'd end up with almost unkillable monsters running amok."

"Why were they unkillable?" A guard asked.

"That's what I want to know. I remember stabbing one but it kept going as if nothing happened. Maybe they don't feel pain and regenerate."

"About that." Another unbaptized spoke. "On all the human bodies I found there were signs of combat, yet on the insects... It's as if they merely scratched them. I couldn't find the one the captain decapitated either, one of the guards who went outside the walls told me there are no insect corpses there either except for where the oil was poured on. It didn't die back then, it probably regenerated its head."

"So... We were up against unkillable beasts who felt no pain and no fear, who could go on without a head, and to make things worse we have no knowledge of them."

"You guys were telling the truth after all..." A guard mentioned. "I'll be honest, I didn't really believe you until I reached this place."

"Has anyone who placed the blame on us even stopped to listen and check the evidence that was here?"

"Not that I know of, no."

"Bastards."


	2. Chapter 2: Escape from San Ilia

"Wake me up when I care." Richard ranted, throwing himself against the barrack's bed. The weight of his armor caused the bed to give a loud cracking sound, yet managed to stand nevertheless.

"So you don't want to be the captain?" An unbaptized asked Richard, while the others talked among themselves.

"Piss off."

"Come on, Rick."

"If you really think I can be a captain, then that means you should not be the captain of this unit."

"Was that an insult?"

"You tell me."

"I swear to Ilias-"

Their talk was interrupted by the sound of the door creaking slightly open, with a guard appearing behind it.

"You lot have a new assignement, get outside and you'll be briefed." The guard spoke before closing the door, leaving.

Without hesitation, the entire unit stood up from where they were, while Richard got up of his bed, and walked outside the barracks to meet whoever would brief them.

Once they walked through the door into the streets, they saw a military officer waiting with two guards beside him. One of the guards was the same as before. Without an order, the unbaptized organized in a line in front of the officer, ready to hear.

"Your tasks will remain the same as before, the only thing this... 'Event' changed was the duration of your services. Moving on. There seems to be a group of monsters near the forest to the north-west that is attacking anyone in sight and not leaving survivors. At first high command assumed that those unfortunate enough were just too weak to defend themselves, so they sent a detachment to deal with them. None appear to have returned. The theory of them surrendering to be 'disposed of' is illogical since they were baptized. They were new recruits too, but high command didn't have much choice in the matter, so they sent as many as they could afford to make sure they succeeded at least. This brings two possibilities: Either that group of monsters is strong enough to defeat a detachment, or they have started thinking for themselves and using proper tactics. Both are equally terrifying due to the insect siege leaving us pretty much defenceless. Your task is to go there and kill those monsters. Since the 19 of you are seasoned veterans, there's no fear of overwhelming odds. Since there were no survivors of the detachment it's very likely they have something to cut off a retreat, so exercise caution. You begin immediately, gather what you need and move towards the objective. Of course, after what happened we can't leave you alone. A guard unit will follow from behind and keep vigilant. Dismissed."

"Yes, sir!" The Unbaptized all spoke in unison before marching to the barrack's armory.

"Say..." An unbaptized spoke to Richard while moving with the rest. "The forest to the north-west... Isn't that the Forest of Spirits?"

"So?"

"I dunno, something weird about it. Do you think the elves have gone uppity?"

"Perhaps. Maybe those elves and the fairies will attack us next."

"Fairies?"

"Nevermind."

Not after long, they reached the armory. One by one, they grabbed their gear. Their swords, spears, crossbows, bows and ammunition, daggers and shields. Richard grabbed his sword and scabbard and tied it to his belt. Then he grabbed his sheathed dagger and did the same. He lifted his shield from the ground leaning to the wall and placed it on his back. After a while, everyone was ready and marching towards the stables to get a horse and get to the objective.

"So, who's the captain?" One asked.

"Richard, of course." Another answered, jokingly.

"Shut the fuck up." Richard retorted.

* * *

"The forest is in sight." An unbaptized stated while the unit and the guards marched through the grass. "Can't see any monsters, though."

"None?" Another unbaptized questioned. "Damn. They must've left. I say we go back already."

"You're not going back until either those monsters are found and killed, or you truly confirm they are gone." One of the guards spoke up. The captain of them.

"I see something. Is that... Blood on the grass?" An unbaptized questioned, seeing a strange colour through the trees of the forest.

"I see it too." Richard stated. "If that's blood, where are the bodies?"

"Well, there's your first clue." One of the guards said. "Go ahead and find out what happened."

The unit and the guards began galloping towards the strange scene in the distance, seeing with clarity how the grass was tinted brown as they got closer. Once they reached it, an unbaptized dismounted from his horse and walked right up to the patch of grass, inspecting it.

"Yeah, it's blood." He said. "It's old. Someone or something must've removed the body."

"Isn't blood red?" A guard spoke.

"Blood turns brown after a while. Don't ask me why."

There were other patches of bloodied grass all around the forest near them too, suggesting that this was the place where the detachment fell.

"Watch it. Minotauros, in front of us. Alone." One unbaptized whispered loudly. Every other unbaptized and guard turned their heads towards the point where the minotauros would be, seeing in the distance a small silhouette of a minotauros walking through the forest, aimlessly.

"Does she have blood on her axe?" Another questioned, whispering. "It could've been the monster that killed the detachment."

"I can't see from here."

"Richard, go get closer to it. We'll kill it as always."

"Cannon fodder as ever..." Richard retorted, complying.

Everyone dismounted from their horses and prepared themselves. Richard removed the shield from his back, unsheathed his sword and slowly marched towards the minotauros while everyone else quickly spread out over the forest in order to ambush the monster. The guards stood vigilant where they were.

Richard kept on walking through the forest towards the minotauros, the scenery slightly darker due to the tall trees blocking the sunlight, except for that which sneaked through the leaves. The sound of grass being stepped on could be heard beneath his feet in every step, and the noise of his armor moving and creaking heard with every movement.

Not after long, the minotauros spotted Richard thanks to the sound of his armor clanking, giving a perverted grin while walking towards him.

He was uneasy, fighting against monsters again, but not as much as a new recruit. He was used to it, and used to the fact that anything may and will go wrong.

"Heheh..." The minotauros spoke in a low, perverted tone. "You look tasty, unlike the others..."

These words sunk into Richard. 'Unlike the others' she had said, making Richard think that she was the one who may have killed the detachment. A quick look at her axe confirmed such thought; it had slight brown spots that'd be usual in a blade that was not properly cleaned after a fight. However, as he stared at the giant axe, the minotauros slowly walked even closer, with her perverted gaze fixed upon him.

"Alone in a place like this...? Don't worry, I'll keep you company... Forever..."

Richard slowly backed off with his shield and sword high towards the minotauros, feigning fear to give the impression of helplessness and weakness. It seemed to work against the minotauros, who kept walking towards him with an even wider smile, licking her lips. He patiently waited until the rest of his unit attacked.

"Fire-" An unbaptied tried yelling to his unit among the trees, only to be interrupted by an equally loud sound of metal being struck against and crushed.

"They're attacking us!" Another unbaptized yelled from the same direction. "Another minotauros! From the trees!"

Richard quickly turned his head towards the source of the noise, only to see the shadows of a minotauros fighting against the unbaptized, painfully winning and cutting through them due to the advantage of catching them off guard. The difference of strength was horrifyingly great. At the other side was the same situation, another minotauros massacring the unbaptized behind the trees with impunity. There were now three of them in total.

Once he turned to the minotauros in front of him, he could see her charging at him with unparalleled speed, almost as fast as a horse in full gallop. He barely had enough time to throw himself to the ground besides him and dodge the deadly charge.

Richard was shocked and confused by the sudden change of situation. Merely a few seconds ago they were ready to kill the minotauros with ease, but now they were dying like flies.

"Once I'm done with you..." The minotauros taunted Richard, who was lying on the ground staring at her. "You'll be my slave until death... You with everyone here who remains alive..."

Snapping out of his shock, he stood up and slowly move towards the minotauros with his shield covering him and sword pointing at her, cautious of any attack she might give.

The minotauros charged forwards towards Richard and swung her axe over her head at him. Fortunately, he managed to dodge the otherwise killing blow to the side and targeted her leg with his sword. It was no use. She blocked the strike with her axe, rendering it useless. The minotauros spinned on herself with exceptional speed to the point where Richard could not even take opportunity of the situation and swung her axe at him. Richard blocked with his shield which by an act of fortune didn't break, but the kinetic energy that remained in the strike blew him to the side and caused him to fall with great pain.

The minotauros swung her axe at him while he was on the ground to outright kill him, but Richard rolled to the side and escaped. With haste, he rushed forward and slashed the back of her knee while she was busy taking the axe that was stuck in ground out, crippling her and forcing her to kneel. She headbutted him on the chest making him stumble back and took her axe out to swing at him once again.

This time, he would not have been be able to dodge it: Its reach was too great for him to step back; his shield would most likely not survive another blow if he blocked; and he could neither duck below the swing nor jump over it. Without any other option, he charged at her and lunged his sword into her torso, tightly pressing against her and being struck with the handle of the giant axe instead.

However, such tactic had its drawback, evident when the minotauros hugged him with incredible strength despite her condemning wound. Richard was trapped, knowing that the minotauros had enough strength remaining to grab her axe and dig into his back, killing him.

"You're not going anywhere..." The minotauros stated. "You're no good for me like this..."

Richard desperately tried breaking free of her grip, unsuccessfully. However, before the minotauros could do anything, an unbaptized spearman quickly charged behind her, jumped on her shoulders and rammed the spear down her head, killing her instantly and freeing Richard from her strength.

"Richard, you okay?" The spearman asked, pulling the minotauros who still had a sword stuck in her torso away from Richard. Looking around, Richard saw how the fighting had ended for the others. The other 2 minotauros were dead.

"Y-yeah..." Richard spoke, shocked of such near-death experience. He giggled a bit, unfocused and light-headed, after remembering how he threatened the guards from before the siege that he'd show them how he killed a minotauros. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't with a bent tea spoon.

"Richard... Richard!" The spearman grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. He didn't react. "Richard! Get it together!"

"Leave him, Jeffrey." An unbaptized crossbowman spoke while walking up to both of them, inspecting his helmet on his hand, bent beyond repair due to the fighting. "He's shocked. Remember that we never fought like this."

The spearman sighed and let go of Richard, who still dazed off but slowly recovered.

"How many did we lose?" The spearman questioned.

"Do you see anyone else alive apart from those two?" The crossbowman answered while pointing at a swordsman and a bowman looking at the dead.

"God dammit..."

"Hey, at least they finished their sentence. 'Serve until death', remember? We'll probably join them next time."

"Shut the fuck up."

"Agh..." Richard grunted while standing up.

"Well at least you didn't lose your mind." The crossbowman stated.

"Shut up Sigmund."

"Why does everyone tell me to shut up nowadays?"

"Out of 19 men, only 5 survived?" One of the guards asked while moving closer with their horses.

"How about you try fighting those damn mountains of muscles yourself? We were lucky to even have a few alive after this." The spearman retorted.

"Fine, fine, sorry. It was a simple question."

"Chill out, Jeff." The crossbowman spoke. "There's something strange about this... Not only did they actually ambush us, they also tried to kill us instead of capturing us alive. We're unbaptized, so that doesn't really make sense..."

"Oh boy, more questions without answers..." Richard ranted. "Those damn things at the siege were enough, now this."

His rant was cut short by the sound of the dry leaves on the ground and grass rustling. Already unnerved from such experienced, the three of them immediately looked at the source of the sound with their hands on their weapons. Whatever it was, it was getting away.

Instead of letting what caused the sound go, the three of them began giving chase, leaving the guards and the two other unbaptized to themselves.

They were catching up easily, as if whatever they were chasing wasn't even fast enough to outrun them. However, they could not see what it was, only the noise and the slight movement of the grass was their clue, which they didn't let go at any chance.

It wasn't until long that the strange being, a tiny animal or monster, was on their sight. It couldn't run fast, so it was a matter of time before it was caught. It looked weird, unlike any animal or monster they had encountered, and with the experience of the siege of San Ilia, attacked by monsters they had also never encountered, they couldn't even think of letting it go.

Richard quickly sprinted forward with great effort and threw himself against the weird being, managing to catch it with his gauntlets as he fell to the ground. 'I'm dead, I'm dead.' he heard the being talk to itself. Slowly and carefully he stood up and opened his hands, revealing a small humanoid creature: It looked like a small, blond woman with a long skirt and a blouse, all bright brown with hints of dirt. However, what differentiated it with a normal human was not only its size, but that it also had rat ears and a tail.

It was a Rat girl.

"P-please... Don't k-kill me..." It desperately begged on Richard's gauntlets, crying.

"A rat girl...?" The spearman questioned. "I've heard about them, but never saw one."

"We're not gonna kill you." The crossbowman stated.

"What have you lot found?" One of the guards that arrived on horseback questioned, curious of what they were chasing. Behind him followed the other guards, the two remaining unbaptized who immediately dismounted and ran up to them to see, and the horses that belonged to the fallen.

"I'll be damned, a rat girl." The bowman spoke up.

"What are you guys going to do with it?" The swordsman questioned.

"It's a monster." The guards' captain stated. "You know what to do with it."

"It's not hostile." Richard retorted back.

"Your orders are to kill monsters, hostile or not."

"If it's hostile, I kill it. If it's not, I don't."

"I don't care what you think. You were sentenced to serve until your death, so carry out your orders or you'll be held for insubordination."

"You heard the boy..." The crossbowman spoke to the captain with a deep, annoyed voice while aiming his loaded crossbow at him, frightening him. "That is, unless you suddenly decide that you're hostile to us."

"You both are gonna get us in deep shit." The spearman said. "Heh, we're good as dead already. Might as well."

"Are you drunk?!" The captain questioned violently. "Even if you shoot me, my men will kill all of you for-"

The sound of a crossbow firing echoed in the forest, right before the guard fell from his horse onto the ground with a bolt sticking out of his eye, now lifeless.

"...Whoops." The crossbowman giggled.

The rat girl, undestandably, was still frightened.

"Alright, if anyone asks..." The swordsman spoke up. "...An elf killed him."

"We hated the bastard anyways." The guards agreed, surprising the unbaptized who had expected a fight. "You did us a favor. Power got him drunk. Alright, carry the dead back on their horses, patrol the area for any other monster, and then let's return."

"We need... T-to leave..." The rat girl desperately spoke, still crying. "There's no time... It's approaching!"

"What is?" Richard asked. "If it's only one, we can kill it."

"N-no! You can't! Not only are you all too few, it's even more powerful than 50 of those minotauros! Please! I beg you! Run while you can!"

Everyone looked at themselves, thinking that it might be related to the insects that attacked San Ilia.

"...A-alright, get the dead on the horses and move out!" The guard spoke up, turning his horse around ready to leave."

"There's no time for that, it's too close already! That thing... That thing ate the corpses of those soldiers that were sent time ago. It ate them! And it eats monsters too! You need to run! If you stay it'll get you all and eat you alive!"

"It ate the corpses?!" The crossbowman questioned. "Wait, if we leave, it'll eat the bodies of the others!"

"I'd rather have my corpse eaten than have more men killed just because they wanted to save my rotting flesh, I'm sure they'd think the same! Let's go, we're leaving!" The spearman yelled while running to his horse.

"Hold tight, we're leaving." Richard told the rat girl before opening one of his belt's pouches and placing her there to be safe. Then, he ran to his horse, mounted it, and galloped with the others to San Ilia. "Do you know anything about the insects that attacked San Ilia?"

"Yes, I saw a couple of them... But they're not like this one. Those are insects, this one's a plant. And this one... It's far more powerful than them." She spoke, calmer thanks to moving away from danger.

* * *

"You have my condolences for what happened back there. I didn't know you lot experienced such horrors in comparison to... Everyone else." The guard leading the group towards the city, now the unanimous new captain of the guard group, spoke.

"Now you know why there are so few unbaptized." The crossbowman stated. "Hell, we're only 5 now. I don't think we'll get serious recruits any time soon."

The guards and the unbaptized travelled over the paved road that led to the city which was already in sight. Besides them were the pastures and fields outside San Ilia's walls, with a few other guards on top of the gate's walls greeting them as they arrived.

Once they reached the gate, it was opened for them to move in. Their horses plodded into the city past the houses and buildings, aiming for the barracks to let the unbaptized have some rest. The guards would escort them then return to their usual duties.

However, a messenger interrupted their movement. He took a rolled parchment out of his backpack but, upon seeing that the old captain was missing, stood still confused.

"Uhhh..." The messenger questioned. "Where's the captain? There's something for him."

"An elf shot him, unfortunately. I took command, all the men agreed on my position too." The now-captain answered.

"Shame." The messenger sighed while giving the parchment to him before leaving as fast as he arrived.

The captain hummed in curiousity while unrolling the parchment and reading it. The small group of guards and unbaptized remained still, waiting for the captain to finish reading.

'Urgent news. Lead The Unbaptized to the area in front of the prison. Captain of the Guard Tallius Vellixon will be awaiting. You will receive further orders from there.' The message contained.

The captain rlled the parchment back before turning to the others. "We'll have to take a detour, we're all being called for something in front of the prison."

"Should we head to the barracks?" The spearman asked.

"This doesn't concern only us guards, they're also calling The Unbaptized there. Or... What remains." He said. He turned his head around to check if there were people nearby, then he began asking Richard. "Hey, is that rat girl alright?"

"She's asleep."

"Why did you bring her here anyways? San Ilia isn't exactly tolerant of monsters, you know."

"San Ilia might not, but as long as it's not a threat, I'll treat monsters as humans. She also seems to know something about that 'thing' that killed the detachment back in the forest."

"Didn't the minotauros kill them? They had blood on their axes and spoke about 'the others', as you told me."

"The rat girl said that the plant thing killed the detachment." Richard answered while the whole group began moving to the prison. "The blood on the minotauros' axes was old too, it might have been the blood of simple wanderers."

"True enough."

While they were moving, they saw how the city was more lively, but not in the best sense. The citizens moved one way to the other in a hurry, talked among themselves with anxiousness, and others even looked at The Unbaptized with certain disgust.

"Guys, I think we're in for something bad..." The crossbowman stated upon seeing the citizenry. "Hey, captain, you know anything?"

"My guess is as good as yours." The captain answered. "I only got orders to lead us to the prison, nothing else."

The anxiety in the scenery kept increasing and increasing, as if the presence of the unbaptized caused it to grow worse by the minute.

Once they reached the prison, a small crowd was already set in place following them. They saw the 'Captain of the Guard' standing in front of the doors of the prison and, behind him, yet another crowd of citizens. The Captain of the Guard, Tallius Vellixon, who stood with his hands on his back and wearing an ornamental armor without helmet and a royal blue cape hanging back.

"Where's the captain?" Tallius asked, unfazed.

"An elf took his life, sir." The captain of the guards that escorted the unbaptized answered.

"You took command, I presume."

"Yes sir. The men unanimously decided so."

"I see. Then, if it was unanimous, I'll name you as the permanent captain of your unit. Who is the captain of The Unbaptized?"

"Richard." The spearman stated, laughing behind his teeth.

"God fucking..." Richard muttered.

"Richard. I see your unit has a few men missing. Give me a report."

"Uhhh..." Richard tried speaking. Not only was this his first time as captain of anything, he didn't know how to give a report either. "Report... Uhhh..."

"Just tell me what happened, son." Tallius interrupted. It was painfully obvious that he knew Richard had no experience with this.

"R-right. We headed to the Forest of Spirits to scout the area for possible clues regarding the monsters. We found blood-stained grass patches on the ground where we assume the bodies of the detachment were, but no bodies at all were found, as if they were removed. Then, we spotted a minotauros. The unit spread out and surrounded it while I was assigned as bait to get it closer to our position, but two other minotauros jumped down from the top of the trees and ambushed us. A heavy fight ensued. We took heavy casualties, but we managed to kill them. After that... We..."

He had trouble deciding the next action. On one hand, if he told the truth he'd also reveal the information regarding the rat girl he had on his pouch sleeping. San Ilia wasn't exactly a city tolerant of monsters, no matter what kind or intention, in this continent. Tallius Vellixon also had a history of pursuing monsters indiscriminately. On the other hand, hiding information from him and San Ilia would not only mean running the risk of being caught and punished, but that information would also be very useful against the new monsters that are appearing all of a sudden.

"You...?" Tallius questioned, impatient.

"...Before we killed one of the minotauros, we interrogated it. From what information we could get, she said that there was a strange monster, similar to the insects that attacked us, that ate the corpses of the detachment and whatever it attacked, monsters included. She also told us that the monster, which was plant-based, was far more powerful than the insects. We could hear it getting closer, and since we had not seen any of the detachment's corpses we had to assume it killed them all and ate them. Assessing the situation, it was painfully obvious that such monster was out of our combat capabilities, which were made even worse due to severe casualties and exhaustion. The best course of action was retreating."

"I see... Captain, is this information true?" He asked the guards' captain, skeptical.

"Yes sir." He answered.

"What about the elf that killed the former captain?"

"By the time we figured out where the shot came from, it was already too late." Richard continued. "We would have scouted the area for that elf but we saw the minotauros with a bloodied axe and took actions, sir."

"These monsters are getting bolder by the day." Tallius remarked. "Anyways, to the matter at hand. I received reports from Port Natalia that there is some sort of mermaid uprising. I don't have the details on it, but it isn't clear if it is a mermaid uprising or, worse yet, a mermaid invasion originating from the ocean."

"Give us a day to rest and we'll put it down." The bowman boasted, fully aware that they'd probably die.

"Captain, arrest these men at once."

"-What!?" The unbaptized violently questioned at once.

"...With all due respect, sir, may I ask the reasons behind this?" The captain asked while his unit dismounted and forcefully dismounted and immobilized the unbaptized.

"The royalty and I have reasons to believe the unbaptized have something to do with the mermaid situation. Not only were they the only ones to survive the insect invasion, this mermaid situation started barely a few weeks after such event. The possibility of them being monster sympathizers who gave the information to those mermaids about this remains. Also, your group knows more of them thanks to that mission than anyone, you'll be in charge of making sure they don't escape."

"I... Understand, sir..."

"Come on, you can't be doing this!" The crossbowman yelled while struggling against two guards.

"That's bullshit and you know it!" The spearman added.

"Hey, Richard..." The captain whispered while tying his arms to his back. "Tell the others to stop fighting back, we'll handle this for you lot. We'll take care of the rat girl, too."

Richard meditated it for a second, before turning his head to the side as he was taken into the prison.

"Hey, guys. Don't fear, everything's gonna be fine. Trust me."

"Fine!? Fine how!?" The spearman questioned.

"We're with you in this. We know you didn't do shit." The guard that restrained the spearman whispered.

Slowly, the guards calmed the unbaptized down, who one by one walked into the prison without resisting. Once the last unbaptized entered the prison, the doors were closed behind them.

"You're all dismissed." The captain told the guards who were already in the prison before they entered. "We'll take prison watch from here."

"Really? Well, not that I'm complaining." One of the dozens of guards questioned while standing up from his chair and walking off with the others. "This place is pretty much abandoned."

One by one, the guards that were in the prison from before left, leaving the others with the unbaptized.

"Did the rat girl wake up?" The captain asked.

Richard opened his pouch carefully, finding the rat girl lying asleep in it.

"Heavy sleeper." Richard remarked, walking into the opened cell and having its door closed behind him.

"So she's fine."

"Hey, captain... Why are you helping us?"

"Why we're helping you? Huh... I guess since the crossbowman killed that damned bastard from before." He began explaining while leaning on the wall next to the metallic door. "He was quite zealous in his duties, to the point where he'd execute people who didn't comply or did something wrong. That bastard killed two of my friends, so I decided to plan revenge. Guess your friend stole my kill, but I'm not complaining since it was a clean kill and that monster in the forest would've eaten up his corpse by now, so no evidence left either. I'm satisfied with that. Had I decided to kill him myself time ago I'd have gotten caught. So this is how I'm repaying the favor."

"You have my condolences."

"Stop being so humble. Doesn't suit you. Anyways, I'm gonna head off and try to find out the real reasons behind this arrest."

"The real reasons?"

"You really believe they'd simply arrest you for that mermaid problem? They'd need more reasons to even suspect you. I fear there's something else behind this."

"True enough." He remarked while hearing the footsteps of the captain getting further and further away. "Guys," he began asking loudly to the rest of the group, locked in their cells. "Anybody knows how long rat girls sleep?"

"Rats take naps of around one hour each instead of 'sleeping' as far as I know." A guard answered. "Maybe that's the same for rat girls, though I'm not sure. I never heard of a rat girl, let alone know its sleep schedule."

"Has it been sleeping since we returned? What was that, about two hours?" The spearman questioned.

"Are you gonna take care of it as if it was your daughter?" The crossbowman taunted.

"Better than having a bent helmet."

"Oh shut up, I couldn't even send it to have it fixed before this bullshit happened."

* * *

"Richard." The captain knocked on Richard's cell door, trying to wake him up. Night had arrived already. "Richard?" He kept knocking. Everyone was already awakened listening close, even the guards, only Richard remained to be awakened.

"Ugh... What... Who... Captain...?"

"Yeah, it's me. I found something ugly."

"What did you find?"

"The reason why you guys were imprisoned. That mermaid thing, even though the situation's true, was simply an excuse to get you guys arrested."

"So what are we here for?"

"They want to calm the citizenry. The people still place the blame of the army's annihilation on you. The families of those that were killed want your heads for that. This mermaid thing only made it worse. To calm them down, they ordered to imprison you and the rest. However, since they can't calm them down forever, they decided to take decisive actions on this. They're going to publicly hang you all tomorrow morning."

"What?!" Everyone violently questioned.

"They say you guys are as expendable as a normal footman. To calm the people they're gonna hang you all. They'll use you as a scapegoat."

"What do we do then?!" Richard yelled. "We can't stand here and wait!"

"Ugh... Wha...?" The rat girl yawned from his pouch.

"Damn... I woke her up. Anyways, what can we do?"

"Well, me and the guys still have to repay that favour so... We'll help you escape. Tallius trusted us with keeping you guys in check, so we can get out of the prison easily. The problem will be getting out of the city."

"Out of the city? You want us to run away from San Ilia?" The spearman questioned.

"Any other ideas?"

"Absolutely not. The problem is I never went to the other three regions, and I believe I speak for everyone when I say we'll simply walk blindly once we get out."

"Still better than dying. Anyways, we got you cloaks to hide you and horses to transport you. You'll all decide where to go after this. However, we still need to take a few 'hits' to give the impression that you lot forcefully escaped."

"How are you going to come up with a situation where we opened the cell doors? Stupidity alone can't cut it." Richard questioned.

"You have the rat girl. Your reputation in this city isn't the priority anymore, so we'll say you had a ratgirl, snuck it through the cell door's window, grabbed our keys and opened the cell. Because you fought monsters, you overpowered us in an instant and allowed the others to escape."

"Good enough."

The captain reached for the keys on his waist and placed one in the lock, turning it around and opening the cell with a loud metallic noise echoing the prison as it opened. The captain proceeded to do the same with the rest of the cells until every unbaptized was free and gathered in the center.

"Here." A guard spoke as he gave each unbaptized a dirty brown cloak to cover themselves with.

"The horses are outside." The captain elaborated. "It's too late in the night for anyone to be outside and see them. You'll get them and then get out through the western gate. I already convinced the guards there to open the gates for you before I got here, you just need to go nearby and that's it, no need to talk or even show yourselves. Five men. After that, you'll all be on your own."

"We owe you all one for this, should we ever meet again." The crossbowman thanked the guards.

"Is there anything else we should know?" The bowman questioned.

"Yes, two things." The captain answered while signalling his men with his head. At his order, they all took a few gold bags and handed them to the unbaptized. "We got some gold for you, for when you reach the city of your pick. And the last thing... Well..." His voice lowered while he took off his helmet. "Make sure it bleeds."

"Seriously?" The swordsman asked.

"Hey, we need to pull off a good act. Might as well make it realistic. Come on, we can take it."

"Alright..." The spearman acknowledged, walking closer to the guards. "I do not take pleasure in this, you know." He told the guards. Then, he turned to the others. "Guys, wait outside, I'll be done with this quickly."

They agreed and began walking outside the prison, leaving the spearman to do his painful job.

Richard, who was the first to the door, opened it and crossed it. Outside it was already raining, the night only illuminated by the moonlight giving a slight idea of what was what. He put on his cloak's hood and turned his sight around to try and find the horses, which were a block away.

After a while, the spearman walked out the prison with blood on his gauntlets. With a swift swing, the blood was splattered from the gauntlet onto the ground.

"I think they're gonna be wearing bandages for a few weeks. Wish it didn't come to this."

"Hey... Richard..." The rat girl began asking half asleep, peeking out his pouch. "What's happening? Where are we?"

"You've been sleeping for hours. Have you been sleep deprived?" Richard questioned, already walking towards the horses with the other unbaptized.

"Yes... That forest kept me awake for who knows how long... Those monsters kept walking around and scaring me..."

"You're safe now, and I'm guessing well-rested too. We're in San Ilia, the city where I live, or... Where I used to live. We're getting out of here."

"But we just arrived... Can't we have something to eat?"

"We're wanted dead here. We can't stay."

"What? Humans also attack eachother? But I've seen them fight together..."

"Damn miracle I say."

They reached the horses under the rain and immediately got up. Without wasting a second they trotted towards the western gate of San Ilia, hoping that nothing would interrupt them.

"So, what was that monster like?" Richard questioned.

"The plant?" The rat girl replied.

"Yes, the one you told us to run away from.

"It... It was traumatizing. It looked like a plant growing on a human girl like a parasite. The girl had no expression whatsoever except for her eyes which only moved. Once it saw something it'd not let go of it until it was eaten... If it looked at you, you were dead already. The flowers that grow all over its body suck its prey dry... Regardless of sex or race, it attacks anyone. Even if those minotauros survived, they'd have been eaten alive by it. And... After it's sucked dry..."

At this point the rat girl began stuttering on her words, despairing, as if the memory haunted her. Not after long, tears began rolling down her cheek.

"Once it's dry... It... It opens its arms a-and... Consumes it, devours it... Fuses with h-her..."

"That thing is no longer near us." Richard interrupted once he realized she was in mental pain, reassuring her. "We're not going to blindly attack it if we can avoid it, so don't worry."

The rat girl sniffed and clearead her cheeks with her hands.

"T-thanks... That thing... The first time I saw that thing doing that, I ran away as far as I could... I didn't sleep, I didn't eat, I didn't rest, I just kept running for my life... I fell unconscious out of exhaustion many times, but I kept running... After that, I met you and we escaped, but that thing almost managed to catch up."

"How many monsters are out there that we have no idea exist?" The bowman questioned. "It's as if they are being created instead of just... Existing. I'd not be surprised if they were created simply to kill us, if so."

"I'd call you a paranoid fuck," The swordsman retorted, "but you actually have a point. We still don't know where those insects came from, but maybe it has something to do with plansect forest."

The road to the gates was not too long, and once they arrived the gates were opened for them without questioning at all. It seemed the captain did a good job in convincing them. Under the rain, they crossed the gates and kept trotting further away from San Ilia.

"Where are you guys going now? I'm gonna head to Grand Noah." The spearman spoke.

"I'll go with you." The crossbowman added.

"We'll head to Grangold." The swordsman said, next to the bowman. "You, Richard?"

Richard kept staring at the gates of San Ilia, meditating over leaving this place.

"I'll go to Sabasa." He answered.

"You sure? It's awfully hot there. You're better off going to the other regions. Safina is a desert region."

"I'll deal with it. Listen, we need to tell the others about what happened here and the attack. Might as well divide to each region. Jeffrey, Sigmund, you're both going to Grand Noah, let the Queen know. Charles, Arthur, you're going to Grangold, tell the King of what happened. I'll go to Sabasa Castle and inform the King. Also, make sure to tell them about our unfair 'trial' here, we'll be ahead of the news of our escape so might as well take the opportunity. I trust your judgment that if something else happens you'll be able to handle it. Unfortunately, we'll most likely lose communications with eachother for an indefinite time. For that reason, you should make your decisions assuming we'll be separated from now on. I'd not be surprised if one or more of us dies before we meet again, if we meet at all."

"Yeah, gotcha." The swordsman agreed.

"You got it." The crossbowman agreed.

"And you told us you didn't want to be the leader back then." The spearman spoke with laughter.

"Shut the fuck up. Try not to get killed, everyone." Richard retorted while turning his horse to the general direction of Safina and riding off. "So..." He questioned , turning his head to the rat girl in his pouch. "What's your name?"

"My name... It's... Ryada."


	3. Chapter 3: Sabasa Kingdom

San Ilias has been left behind, along with any hope of ever returning to the normal life that Richard had been living so far. Such a quick succession of events had not only kicked him out of his home kingdom, but also left him with far too many questions to even fathom what the answers would be or the ways to get them. The origin of the insects had been theorized to be in plansect forest, although it'd not be possible to prove such theory right or wrong in these circumstances. The mermaid invasion that occurred barely weeks after that had also sparked thoughts of the attacks being linked to eachother, despite the differences in the two monster types. The 'solution' to calm the general populace also left Richard and the unbaptized with a bitter sentiment of betrayal.

The unbaptized had divided, already assuming they'd never see eachother again. Two headed to the Noah region, two to Gold, and the remaining one, Richard, to Safina. Their first and only task would be to warn the leading figures of each region of the attack and explain their current situation to seek sanctuary against those who wanted them dead. After that, they'd be left to their own devices.

Richard's destination was the Sabasa Kingdom in the Safina region, a desertic region which contrasted with the other three. The extreme heat would end any weak man or monster who ventured too far. If the temperature didn't kill those who ventured in, they'd be met with monsters far more dangerous than the other regions' simply by virtue of surviving and thriving in such extreme weather.

Before the Safina region could be reached, however, a forest remained to be crossed to the west. A humid, hot forest that combined the characteristics of the Natalia and Safina regions. Of tall trees and beautiful plants, with a small road carved that didn't seem to be in much use anymore.

"Richaaaard..." Ryada complained, lying on top of his head.

"What?" He questioned.

"I'm starving..."

"I think I have some bread in one of my pouches."

"I don't want bread..."

"You don't eat bread?"

"Yes, but I want something else..."

"Such as?"

Ryada didn't answer. Instead, she slowly crept down his head until her perverted stare could be seen through Richard's helmet, making her intentions painfully obvious. This didn't amuse Richard in the slightest.

"If you even think about that again, I'll kick you back into the damned forest of spirits with that plant thing." He replied, annoyed.

"I-I'll get by with the bread alone." Ryada answered while rushing to his belt's left pouch. She dived in and got out with a small piece of bread, eating. "Can I ask something?"

"Is it regarding 'that'?" Richard questioned, showing slight hints of annoyance.

"...Yes. I-I'm not going to do anything! I just want to know something."

"Tsk... Alright, ask away."

"Why did you react so... Violently?"

"It's..." He began answering, but not finding the words to do so completely. "...My problem with people."

"Alright..." Ryada said back in a low tone, knowing not to ask any further. "Sorry I asked..."

"Don't worry about it. You didn't kno- FUCK-"

He was immediately struck in the torso by a flying object which threw him off his horse, with Ryada following in the air. He painfully landed the ground with the unknown projectile still sticking to his chest, weighing him down.

"What is this...?" He questioned while touching it. "Wait, is this... Eugh..."

It was a big ball of web.

"Ryada?" He called for the rat girl, worrying about her safety.

"I'm here." She spoke, moving closer to him after landing further away. "Guess the horse isn't coming back..." She remarked, seeing the horse running off.

"I'm more worried about where this thing came from. It was aimed, I'm sure of it." Richard spoke while standing up and desperately getting the web off him. "Can you see anything around? ...Ryada?"

"T...T-T..."

"Ryada?"

"T-Taran...Tula..."

"Tara what?" He questioned, confused.

He looked at her to see what the reason of her stuttering was, only to see her staring blankly at something in the distance. He turned his head to see what she was looking at, only to find the source of the web shot.

A Tarantula girl which slowly moved towards him.

"Get this fucking thing off me!" Richard yelled at Ryada for help while trying to get remove the web.

Ryada, immediately thereafter, climbed on him and tried to cut the web with her teeth.

"Another helpless human caught in my web..." The Tarantula Girl taunted, seeing Richard struggle. "That surcoat... You're from San Ilia, yet you're not baptized... Heheh, how lucky I am."

Richard, seeing as removing the web would take far longer for him than for the Tarantula Girl to reach him, decided to do what his training had taught him in such situation.

Run for his life.

Through the forest, with Ryada clinging onto his torso still trying to cut the web, he kept on running and running with the Tarantula Girl chasing him. The towering spider that was far bigger than him, who kept throwing webs at him trying to stop him in his tracks.

The horrifying sight of a giant tarantula chasing him through the forest with its 8 legs' noise making it seem like he was chased by a group of monsters was incredibly effective as motivation for him to keep running.

He couldn't break sight. The Tarantula Girl caught up with him every time he thought he had outran her.

"Ryada, how goes that web?!"

"Almost...-"

Richard almost tripped on the web that fell down his legs onto the ground by act of gravity. Ryada had been successful in cutting it at last.

"-Done!"

"Get on one of the pouches, now!"

She immediately complied and rushed to one of the open pouches, entering it and sealing it shut.

Richard, without losing speed, bowed down and grabbed a rock. He stopped running and turned around to face the Tarantula Girl who also stopped, as if confused for his sudden attitude.

"Giving up?" The Tarantula Girl taunted.

"Eat shit!" Richard yelled, throwing the rock with all his strength aimed at her head.

Unfortunately, he missed. However it was his intention to make her focus her mind entirely on dodging that rock, succeeding at that.

"What was that for!? I'm going to... Huh? Hey, where did you go?!"

"I'm dead... I'm gonna die. Probably worse. Dammit I didn't even reach Safina." Richard whispered to himself, hiding behind a tree.

The sudden confusion caused by the rock he threw gave him an opportunity to run off a short distance. However, it'd be just a matter of time before he'd be found due to not being able to move at all. A slight movement would give his position away, since there is nothing to conceal him if he wanted to move away.

"Why did it have to be a spider girl? A tarantula of all things. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck..." He continued despairing. "Shit, I'm alone too. I'm dead. This is suicidal."

"Richard, Richard!" Ryada whispered from her pouch.

"-What?"

"I have an idea!"

"As if I'd say no in a situation like this."

"Remember that fight with the three minotauros?"

"Little human! Where are you?!" The Tarantula Girl yelled, becoming more violent as she got closer.

"Yeah?" Richard answered. "What about it? That thing's moving closer and closer."

"Remember how they ambushed you? How they jumped from the trees?"

"Well, yes."

"That thing is bound to walk through here. Can you climb this tree?"

"You know, you're way smarter than your size implies." Richard complimented her while turning to the tree. "Now... Uhhh..." He thought to himself as he stared above.

The tree seemed aged and its trunk was irregular. Not only that, it was not as tall as originally expected. With a bit of effort, it'd be possible to climb its trunk by grabbing and stepping onto its irregularities until a branch could be in reach. After that, it'd simply be a matter of strength.

With the possibility of the now pissed off Tarantula Girl reaching him serving as motivation, he began climbing the tree. First by grabbing onto its irregularities. Then, by stepping onto them and hoping not to slip off.

"I heard you!" The Tarantula Girl yelled upon hearing Richard creating noise, running to where she thought he was. However, she did not know of what he had planned.

Richard climbed with even more haste as the Tarantula Girl moved closer and closer, sure of his location. Ambushing her was required, for hiding and waiting would involve far more risks. Even if she didn't see him at such height, the opportunity of getting rid of her permanently would be wasted and probably never return.

And, after all, he'd be seen if she just raised her sight.

After a while he finally reached one of the branches. He grabbed onto one and pulled himself higher with the rest of his body until he reached a stable point where he simply stood over the branch, overlooking the scenery below. To climb higher would not be possible due to the amount of time required.

"I... Got you!" The Tarantula Girl yelled while rushing to the place where Richard was barely a few minutes ago. "-What...? Where did you go now?!"

The Tarantula Girl was directly below him.

Taking a deep breath and staring above as he gathered strength, he unsheathed his sword and jumped off the branch towards the Tarantula.

He landed right over the Tarantula Girl's spider abdomen. The inertia and weight caused her spider body to be pushed against the ground with her legs giving in.

"Augh!" The Tarantula Girl yelled in pain. "You! I have you now!"

The Tarantula Girl tried to spin on herself, only for her focus to be interrupted by Richard grabbing her hair hard enough to cause her excruciating pain. Immediately thereafter, Richard rammed his sword right through her human part's stomach from behind, causing her strength to be depleted as she slowly bled from the wound.

"A...Again...?" She whispered, seeing his sword sticking out of her stomach. "Beaten by the likes of you...?"

"Again?" Richard questioned. For him, there were only two outcomes in a battle against monsters: Either the monster dies by the hands of the human, or the monster has her way with the human. That's what he believed, and so 'again' would mean something else happened. "What do you mean 'again'?"

"Heh... Strange..." The Tarantula Girl spoke softly with her life drifting away. "This... Is blood. Last time, it wasn't... Against him, it wasn't..."

"'Him' who?!"

"A boy. A strong boy who went to Safina... The same way you're going... Unbaptized as you are, yet stronger than anyone I've fought against..."

"An unbaptized boy..." Richard thought to himself. "And he defeated you...? Huh."

The Tarantula girl's strength was depleted to the point she couldn't even talk anymore. With nothing else to be done and the Tarantula defeated, Richard pulled the sword out of her stomach and swung it against her neck, killing her instantly. Her now lifeless body collapsed to the ground, allowing him to jump down.

"Ryada, all's good now." He stated, walking to a tree and resting on it, exhausted. "Your idea worked. Guess your head saved my life."

"You... You killed her... Just how strong are you?"

"That wasn't strength, that was an ambush. The same thing that killed most of the people I knew."

"I never fought... I don't know, I have much to learn."

"You'll learn eventually. Though you'll have to learn other things if you want to fight. In a straight fight you'll get literally stepped on, you need to play unfair."

"Unfair?"

"Whoever wins is the one who remains alive, not the one who abides by rules. Look." He ordered while pointing at the Tarantula girl's body with his sword. "That thing shot me with web to immobilize me and prevent me from fighting. That's not exactly 'fair', but thanks to that she almost won. You helped me cut that web and I ran away, hiding. I climbed that tree as you said and struck her when she wasn't looking. I won thanks to that. You need to take every advantage you have because it's not about winning or losing, it's about living or dying."

* * *

"That damned horse..." Richard complained while walking through the hot sand with Ryada, who was lying immobile on his helmet under his hood, exhausted by the heat. "I swear, once I find it, I'm gonna kill it."

"Guh..." Ryada sighed, struck by the desert's heat.

Sabasa Kingdom was finally in sight, although with an unusual, eerie aura. Being close to a kingdom, and more importantly a source of clean water in a desert, Richard and Ryada were struck with happiness. Joyful, Richard walked faster past what his exhaustion previously allowed into the city. Strangely, the wall gates were open already.

He rushed inside and looked around to find a place to drink like a bar, but deciding that the information he held was of more importance, he changed course to the Sabasa Castle. He didn't need directions, the structure was the tallest in the city, and perhaps the kingdom, so he could simply follow it as it loomed over the buildings.

However, just as he turned a corner, he was surprised by a band of no less than fifteen men who had their bows aimed at him from a distance, surrounding him from the streets and the rooftops. They all dressed the same without exception. They had a pale brown cloth wrapped around their head to the point where only their eyes could be seen, while also reached down to their shoulders; a very loose-fitting dress of a stripped design; a connection of belts which surrounded their dress; a small circular shield on the arm they gripped their bows; a metal malled strapped to their waist; and a full quiver on their back.

Just before Richard was able to figure out what was happening and who they were, he saw another man dressed like them walking towards him with his mallet drawn. Not wanting to create an unfavorable situation, he remained still until the man was in front of him.

The man drew a garlic out of his pouch, causing Richard even more confusion, and presented it to him.

"Eat it." He said.

"What-" Richard tried questioning.

"Eat it!" He interrupted, pressuring him with his mallet right in front of his face. It was clear the man was on the edge.

"What's going... Oh God..." Ryada questioned, appeared from below Richard's hood. The man, upon seeing her, simply remained confused, not questioning but pressuring Richard even further with the garlic.

Richard complied and raised his helmet's visor. He grabbed the garlic from the man's hand and took a bit of it, not knowing what for.

This event seemed to calm down those who surrounded him, although not enough for them to lower their bows.

"Now that thing." The man ordered, pointing to Ryada with his sight.

"What? Why?" Ryada questioned, unknowing.

"Just do what they say." Richard spoke while handing him a piece of garlic.

Once she took a bite of it and chewed it, the guards let out a sigh of relief and lowered their weapons.

"Guess you're clean. Sorry about this." The man in front of them spoke. "That surcoat... You're from San Ilia, right? Though I don't know about San Ilia tolerating monsters like that rat girl. Only heard about mermaids being accepted."

"Unfortunately. Also, about those mermaids... San Ilia seems to have been invaded by mermaids. Port Natalia was under attack by the time I left. I'm here to give that and other messages to the king, since San Ilia was also attacked by... Some things that nobody knew anything about."

"What? Did San Ilia- You know, you should save that for the king." The man stated. Then, he turned to the others who were on the streets and the rooftops. "Get down here, we're getting him to the king! He's from San Ilia!"

"You're gonna escort me? And why did you force me and her to eat that garlic?" Richard questioned as the others gathered around him.

"Yes. Judging by your question, you don't know who we are. Not that we'd blame you, since you come from the east. We're soldiers, not bandits as you might have assumed. About that garlic... You'll know in due time, I guess. Also, may I ask a question?"

"...Sure."

"You come from San Ilia. The people of San Ilia aren't that tolerant of monsters, yet you travel with that rat girl. How come?"

"I don't know." He answered while Ryada moved from under his hood to stare at all the soldiers. "I have killed a lot of monsters. She's the first one I've befriended. Maybe it's because she's the first one not to try to kill me or worse..."

"You're lucky it's a rat girl." One of the soldiers stated. "Any big monster like a lamia or anything, and most people would either run or attack on sight."

* * *

Richard and Ryada had set out for the Sabasa Castle with the soldiers escorting them, thus allowing them to be able to reach it safely and quickly. Through the streets they walked, still with the eerie aura remaining, as if something had happened in the kingdom. Houses, stores and other buildings were crossed until they reached the castle's surroundings.

They kept on walking until they reached the closed gates with several other soldiers, dressed the same, guarding the entrace. However, they reached the closed gates just as another person tried entering, begging for the guards to let him pass. The guards didn't seem to let him in at any chance.

"You have to let me in!" The strange person begged loud enough for Richard, Ryada and the soldiers to hear from such distance as they closed in.

"Castle's closed, I said." A guard spoke while shoving him back. "If you keep pestering, I'll drag you to the dungeon myself. Unless you're one of 'those'..."

"I need to see the king! It's of utmost importance, I have a message for him!"

"Listen, for the last time, either you fuck off or I'll-"

"I'll take it from here." Another guard interrupted him while taking a garlic out of his pouch. "You know what to do." He spoke in a threatening manner to the man trying to get in.

At this point Richard and the soldiers were already next to the guards and the man, waiting for their turn to speak.

"What?!" The man complained. "Are you drunk?!"

The guard took out a mallet, placing it in front of the man's face while the others prepared their bows. The same way Richard had witnessed.

"Last warning." The guard stated.

The man backed off a few steps, agitated and not knowing what to do.

"Men, hold fast!" The guard ordered while raising his arm.

The man's expression changed from worry to fright, all the while the archers all over the place focused their bows at him, ready to let loose at any second.

"W-wait! I'm not one of them! I'm not!"

"Then eat the god damn garlic!"

The man, already seeing himself defeated, backed off a few more steps. The guard's arm was high above, already prepared to be thrown down to order the archers to fire.

However, before he could give the order, the image of the man who tried to get in was erased by a cloud of smoke. Immediately thereafter, something dashed from the smoke quick enough for only the trail to be seen, rushing directly to the guard. It impacted against him, sending him a few steps back after the strike with blood dripping down his chest after attacking him.

"Vampire!" An archer yelled right before the arrows rained upon the strange figure.

Such event forced everyone to prepare for the fight out of fright. The soldiers that followed Richard and Ryada readied their bows, Richard unsheathed his sword and readied his shield, and Ryada rushed to his pouch so as not to disturb him while keeping a curious eye to see what happened.

"Don't let that damn thing run off!" The soldier from before yelled as he spread out with the rest. The arrows were ineffective.

Richard tried backing off, figuring he'd not be allowed to take risks because of his importance to the king regarding the message. However, the vampire, although not knowing him or his objective, targeted him next, rushing at him.

"You're mine!" The vampire yelled at him.

Richard placed his shield in front of himand pushed it forward, attempting to ram it against the charging vampire. However, the vampire's agility allowed it to simply dodge the blow and tackle him from the side while grabbing his shoulders, pushing him to the ground as they both fell.

She immediately tried to bite his neck to tear the chainmail apart. However, she encountered resistance as Richard dropped his sword and desperately tried pushing her head away with his gauntlet. Both sides were making an effort to reach their goal.

Richard left his shield on the ground to free his other hand and gripped the vampire's neck, forcing her back with his strength. It wasn't long until the vampire gave up on the opportunity to attack him and started trying to break off his grip.

Once Richard got the upper hand, he punched her with the hand he used to hold her off, causing her a slight concussion and light-headedness. Immediately thereafter, he lifted her with the hand he choked her with into the air and slammed her against the ground using her own weight against her. Then, he stomped on her chest while she was on the ground and used his foot to keep her immobilized.

"Ryada, go and get me my sword!" He yelled, trying to keep the vampire on the ground as she desperately struggled against him.

Ryada, as he ordered, rushed out of his pouch and ran towards the sword he left on the ground. She grabbed the hilt and dragged it towards Richard due to its weight and size compared to hers.

Thankful, Richard grabbed the sword from the ground. He removed his foot from the vampire's chest and stomped her head before she could escape, wanting to keep her neck still. Then, he raised his sword above his head, gripping it with both hands.

"N-No! Wait!" The vampire screamed for mercy. "Y-you can't!"

"I'm about to." Richard whispered while bringing down his sword at her neck with as much strength as he could muster, digging into her flesh, though not being enough to decapitate her. Such attack left him tired, but despite that he raised his sword against and threw it down against her neck again, this time being successful at decapitating her. He backing off and fell to the ground, completely exhausted from the fight coupled with the entire walk through the desert.

"...Did that bastard just deal with that vampire on his own?" One of the soldiers questioned in the chatter that ensued among them.

"...Richard?" Ryada questioned. "Richard!"

He was reaching the point where he didn't even have the strength to talk.

"Someone! Give him some water at least!"

"R-Right." A soldier answered while taking out a flask and running to him, raising his visor and helping him drink it.

"Damn." Another soldier spoke. "Didn't expect him to be able to fend off a vampire."

"Why did he fall, though? You're not going to tell me he walked the entire desert here, right?"

"Anyone..." Richard spoke up, coughing from the water. "Get me to the king... There's something I must tell him..."

"Someone get a garlic." A guard said.

"Piss off, we already force fed him one." A soldier stated while him and another helped him to his feet. "Open the gate!"

A few minutes later, the gate slowly opened, leaving the road to the king free of obstacles. The two soldiers who helped him to his feet walked into the castle with him acting as escort while Ryada climbed to his shoulder.

* * *

"My king." A castle guard saluted the Sabasa King. "There is someone who requires your attention."

"Has he passed through the procedures?"

"Yes. He said he's from San Ilia and bring news of something that happened."

"Let him in."

"Of course."

The castle guard walked up to the door that led to the throne room and crossed it. After a while, he returned with Richard and Ryada.

Richard met the Sabasa King, a heavily scarred man whose eyes already showed that a ferocious battle had occurred time ago. Such thought was proven true by the scars which didn't heal completely, contrasting with those from long ago.

"What..." Richard muttered upon seeing the king's scars.

"Welcome. I'm afraid I don't know your name yet, even though the way you handled that vampire outside shows you know how to hold your ground very well." The king greeted him.

"-My name is Richard, your majesty."

"'Majesty'? Is he the Human Lord?" Ryada questioned innocently. "Like the Monster Lord?"

"Hush now." Richard silenced her, nervous for being in front of a king. "Uhh- I come from San Ilia."

"San Ilia? Seems hard to believe, seeing as you're friends with a monster. Aren't they intolerant of monsters...?"

"Well, yes, but..."

"Hey Richard, if he's not the Human Lord, what is he Lord of?" Ryada kept questioning.

"Dammit, Ryada..." Richard muttered.

"Ryada...? She has a name?" The King questioned as he stood up, intrigued. "May I?" He asked, extending his hand towards Ryada as he walked closer.

"Well, uhh, sure, I guess..." He answered, sure that he'd do no harm.

Ryada jumped from Richard's helmet to the king's hand, staring at him with her head tilted to the side.

"So, you're Ryada?"

"Yes."

"How did you both meet?" He asked, referring to her and Richard.

"Richard saved my life. Well, not exactly, but he decided to help me in the Forest of Spirits."

"Is that so...?"

Richard remained still and silent, deciding to let things play without his intervention.

"He's a good person, yet some want him dead..."

"How so?"

"I don't know the details entirely... I'm not sure if I should explain it, since Richard knows best."

"Alright. Richard." He spoke, calling for his attention.

"Y-yes?" Richard answered.

"Can you tell me what you came here for?"

"O-Of course. San Ilia... San Ilia was attacked by a horde of insects. We barely held them off, but we had to sacrifice an entire district to beat them. They were only vulnerable to fire, not even decapitating them worked."

"First vampires, now insects..." The King sighed.

"That's not all. Before I left, Port Natalia was under attack by an invading force of mermaids. Or an uprising of the mermaids of the place. I don't know the details."

"I see... Then my kingdom wasn't the only one attacked. That makes it worse."

"Well... Now that that's taken care of..."

"Do you need anything else?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I'm a... I ran away from San Ilia, I wasn't dispatched to send this message."

"Can you elaborate?"

"I'm wanted dead in San Ilia. I'm a fugitive."

The king was silent, listening to him. His silence already told Richard to continue.

"In the attack of San Ilia, my unit was forced to burn the district the army was fighting in to destroy the insects. Our captain left the unit to tell the general to retreat through the district and lead the insects to the fire, but... They were too late. The fire was already burning before they got through. They all perished, even our captain. We were held responsible for the army's destruction, we were condemned to serve until death, returning to our usual monster-killing duties, but then the mermaid invasion happened. The population became restless and thought me and the others were the cause of the army's annihilation and the mermaid issue, so those who ruled the kingdom decided to execute us to calm the population. After that, we had to escape San Ilia. There are four other men who I ran away with. Two went to the Noah region, and the other two to Gold. They'll tell the rulers of what happened in San ilia. If they get there alive."

"An unfortunate turn of events. You have my condolences."

"Thank you, your majesty."

"I'll make sure you're not pursued by San Ilia, Richard. Do not fear." The King spoke while leaving Ryada over his shoulder. "You deserve some rest after what happened."

"May I ask a few questions?"

"Of course."

"What... What happened here? The city seems weird, and a vampire attacked me outside. Not only that, the soldiers seem on the edge about vampires and garlic."

"So, you haven't been told yet... Sabasa was attacked by vampires and a battalion of monsters. Some vampires infiltrated the castle, so I ordered it closed for me to handle them all. Unfortunately, some escaped while others arrived and attacked the city. Apparently the windows are a good way for winged creatures to escape... Then, a battalion of monsters, as well as more than ten gigantic monsters, attacked. It was a fight I actually thought we'd lose, but we won by sheer human tenacity. We're left weakened and have to rebuild. It'll take ages, but it's better than dying."

"I... See..." Richard answered. The thought that the other two regions might have been attacked at the same time crossed his mind, leaving him with bitter confusion. The thought also crossed the King's mind.

"Fortunately, I have already sent messengers to the other regions. I'm praying that what I think happened didn't actually happen. Richard, I have something to ask of you. You've killed many monsters, true?"

"Yes."

"Then you seem to have much combat experience. After the battalion was defeated, some of the monstered scattered around the kingdom's outter borders. I've tried to get rid of them, but the situation we're currently in doesn't allow me to take such risks. However, you can help us with your strength and courage. I want you to aid the unit I'll dispatch to take care of this situation."

"I'd be glad to aid in any way I can."

"That's the spirit. Tell me... I've not seen anyone using the kind of armor you have in any region. Did you specifically get that design forged for you?"

"Yes, I was from a unit that-"

"'The unbaptized'?"

"...How did you know?"

"I've heard of San Ilia deciding to give the chance to those who were not baptized to join the military ranks and prove themselves. So, that rumor was true and worked after all... How many monsters have you and your brethren killed?"

"Maybe half a hundred at best. Lamias, leeches, elves, minotauros... Most recently a Tarantula Girl as I passed through the forest between Natalia and Safina, alone."

"And what kind of monster would one need to be to not be considered an 'enemy'?" He asked with his eyes narrowed.

"Not hostile. I treat monsters as I treat humans: If it's friendly, like Ryada, I'll act accordingly. If it becomes a threat, I'll kill it. Monster or human, I'll kill it."

"I see..." The king stated with a hint of relief. "Your kills are remarkable, even though most of them are thanks to your brethren. Still, there's only one other person who I know that has defeated so many monsters."

"Another?" Richard questioned, remembering what the Tarantula Girl said.

"His name is Luka. I'd be surprised if you didn't hear from him, he rescued my daughter after all. Returning to the matter at hand, the soldiers will form a company tomorrow to seek those monsters out there. Use this time to rest and recover. I'll let the people in this city to give you a generous discount as a token of gratitude. You should also repair that shield of yours, it's breaking apart."

"I am thankful for this, your majesty. I'll take my leave now."

"Safe travels, Richard. Funny, you're the second unbaptized I've seen showing promise."

* * *

And so, Richard headed to the nearest blacksmith to have his equipment repaired. He already secured a small job so he'd not need to worry about being stranded in this desertic kingdom.

"I can deal with this." The blacksmith spoke while inspecting the shield. "But you'll have to find someone else for the heraldy, I can't paint something of that complexity."

Richard stood still for a moment, thinking. Since he'd not be returning to San Ilia at all, the heraldy would be useless.

"Just paint it over. Ignore the heraldy."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"...Alright, I assume you have your reasons." He complied while placing it away. "I'll have it ready for tomorrow, then."

"Tell me..."

"Yes?"

"Do you know something about a boy called 'Luka'?"

"'Luka? Luka... Luka... Ah yes, he helped the king. Funny, he comes from the east too."

"Is he in the city?"

"No, last I heard from him he left to the Noah region. I think he didn't plan to stay here to begin with."

"I see. Any idea why he left?"

"No. I merely heard of him and where he left to, but nothing else."

"Shame."

Their talk was interrupted by a soldier who arrived.

"Richard, I've been told to give you this." The soldier spoke, giving him a backpack. "Orders of the quartermaster."

"That so?" Richard whispered, grabbing and opening the backpack.

Inside were many supplies, common for someone who'd walk a long distance away. Food, a flask, a map, among many others.

Ryada, starving, simply jumped off Richard's hood and dived into the bread inside. Richard grabbed the map and took a look at it.

It was greatly detailed, with all the regions and points of interest written on it.

"So, that's where the Noah region is..." Richard muttered to himself. "...Just to the south of that Plansect place..."

"Want me to make some armor for that rat girl?" The blacksmith joked.

"I'll pick up the shield tomorrow, then."

"Understood." The blacksmith answered while Richard walked through the door, leaving. "Farewell."

"So," Ryada spoke while popping her head out of the backpack with a mouthful of bread, "where are we going now?"

"It's getting late. Gonna look for a place to spend the night in."


	4. Chapter 4: Stragglers

The night had passed and morning arrived in Sabasa. Richard slowly began to wake up, lying on the bed of the inn he rented a room in for the night. Slightly opening his eyes, he saw through his helmet's visor how Ryada was sleeping on it. Having to wake her up, he decided to blow air out of his mouth through the visor at her, causing her to shiver, rise half asleep and fall off the helmet with a small scream. The sudden fright of falling from the top of his helmet onto the bed managed to wake her up completely, and give Richard a small laugh.

"Why did you sleep with your armor on?" Ryada questioned, rubbing her eyes after being woken up.

Richard ignored the question and sat up on the side of the bed, stretching. He looked at the window from where he was, with the glare of the sun's reflection on the building on the opposite side of the street piercing his eyes. He thought that it'd be midday judging by the sun's strength. Shrugging it off, he reached for his equipment that he left next to the bed. He stood up, grabbed the sword and belt and placed it on him. Then, he grabbed the pouches and tied them onto the belt. After that, he took his backpack and swung it onto his back. He turned around to Ryada and extended his hand, which Ryada climbed on to reach his shoulder. Both of them now ready, Richard decided to walk out the room.

* * *

"Had a good night?" The inn keeper asked upon seeing Richard walking down the stairs.

"Yes." Richard answered, walking past him. "Save me that room, I'll stay here for a few days. I'll pay later."

"You got it."

Richard walked through the inn's bar towards the front door, but as soon as he reached for the door's handle someone called his name. Turning around but not knowing who exactly called for him in the slightly crowded inn, he looked around to see if he could find him. As he glanced around, he noticed how one man, dressed like one of the soldiers he met, waved his arm for him to notice. He was sitting with another soldier too, sharing a drink. Richard thought for a while on what to do, but after realizing he wasn't in a hurry at all, he decided to head towards the two soldiers to see what they wanted.

"Pull yourself a chair and join us." The soldier that called for him invited him as he got closer.

Richard looked around and saw an empty chair next to him belonging to another table. He grabbed it and placed it near the table with the two soldiers, sat on it, and moved it closer. As soon as he got comfortable, one of the soldiers grabbed a mug, poured mead on it and handed it to Richard.

"Well if it isn't the one from San Ilia." The other soldier talked. "Your armor makes you recognizable from a kilometre away. The fact that you even have armor makes you stand out from everyone else."

"Tell me." The other soldier questioned. "Are the rumors true? Did you kill a tarantula all on your own?"

"Well..." Richard began answering, rubbing the back of his helmet. "...They're not false."

"How did you manage!? We'd need ten archers at least!"

"Well... Uhhh..." He found it difficult to explain, seeing as the soldiers thought it was a feat of raw strength when in fact it wasn't such thing. "You see... I was in this forest to the east and the tarantula was hunting me down. I managed to break sight and hid for a while. Then, I climbed a tree-"

"You climbed a tree...?"

"Yes, a tree. Anyways, I climbed and waited for the tarantula to come closer. Once it was right below me I jumped on it, landed on its spider abdomen and stabbed her spine from behind. After that she was sort of paralyzed, the fight ended there, so I finished her off."

"That's... That's actually smart. Not what I expected but still."

"I wasn't the one who came up with that either. It was her." He stated as he pointed at Ryada, who remained under his hood. "I'm surprised she learnt so fast, she saw that tactic back when my unit got ambushed by minotaurs."

"What happened in that ambush?"

"What didn't happen..." Richard sighed, lowering his head. "Out of nineteen, only five of us survived."

"Shit. I'm sorry, man."

"Don't worry about it." He reassured them, drinking from the mug of mead before continuing. "Say, do you guys know anything about the monsters that escaped?"

"We're from the unit you'll join, son." The soldier that just finished his drink stated. "From what I know, we'll have to go to the outer regions of this city and pursue a raiding party. We have horse archers, they can't outrun us."

"So, what kind of monsters will they be?"

"Nothing out of your abilities. Lizards, scorpions, snakes... Not unlike what you've probably faced already."

"The terrain?"

"Urban, ruins." The other one continued. "They may not outrun us with horse archers, but they'll probably hole up in one of the buildings. Of course, we have explosives, so we're ready for that too."

At that point, a memory crossed Richard's mind. He remembered about not too long ago in Port Natalia how a mermaid school was bombed. This led to a chain of thoughts that made him wonder if it had a connection to the mermaid issue that Port Natalia suffered before he was forced to leave. However, since there wasn't much he could do in the situation he's in, he decided to shake those memories off.

"Alright, so, when will we begin?" He questioned.

"We have a few hours left, we were here to rest a bit anyways."

"I have to pick up the shield I left at the blacksmith's before joining, so there's that."

"We'll go with you. We don't have much to do until then."

As Richard and the soldier talked, the other soldier couldn't help but stare at the rat girl with slight confusion and impression, for he hadn't seen one before. He turned his attention to his backpack which was lying on the ground. He opened it, took out a small bag with nuts inside and closed the backpack. He left the small bag on the table, opened it, took out a small nut and moved it close to Ryada, who took notice of him.

And since Ryada was on Richard's shoulder, the sight of the soldier's hand moving close to Richard also caught his attention, cutting the conversation between him and the soldier short.

Once the nut was in reach, Ryada immediately grabbed it with joy showing in her eyes and started eating.

"Where did you find her?" The soldier questioned.

"After that ambush I spoke about, I found her. She was afraid. Not of the minotaurs, but of something else. Don't ask me what that something was, I don't know. I'm not sure if I want to know either. I'm guessing it didn't belong in there, since Ryada lived there and was tremendously afraid of it. It also killed an entire detachment of recruits, so it must've been really strong. Notice I said kill, not captured. None left alive. Whatever it was, it wasn't a normal monster."

The two soldiers were speechless at his description of the monster in the Forest of Spirits. Ryada, however, decided to ignore the matter to climb down richard's arm and move to the bag of nuts left on the table.

"Are you going to go with her?" One soldier questioned. "To fight with her?"

"Yes, I don't really trust anyone to leave her with. She learns fast, though. Perhaps one day she'll be able to fight in her own way."

"She better learn stealth or she'll get literally stepped on."

"True. We should get going."

"Right behind you."

They all stood up and grabbed their equipment, planning to stop by the blacksmith's to get Richard's shield who must've been repaired by now. The soldier grabbed the small bag on the table and Richard raised Ryada to his shoulder, where she moved beneath Richard's hood knowing they'd go outside into the sunlight. They walked through the bar until they reached the door, which they opened and stepped outside the inn one by they stepped into the streets, the Sabasan sun forced Richard to cover his eyes, for he was not used to the desert yet.

"The blacksmith's down this street, if we go straight from here we'll not miss it." A soldier remarked before walking, with the other soldier and Richard following.

Richard noticed how the streets were different than when he arrived. This time, it was quite crowded, with people going one way to the other as if the attack didn't cause that much damage.

"It's quite lively despite the attack..." Richard remarked with confusion.

"Don't be deceived." The soldier spoke up. "The attack wiped out a great amount of people. Those who survived in the outer regions moved here for safety reasons. It might be crowded here, but where we'll go is completely abandoned."

"We've killed a lot of vampires too." The other continued. "Now all that we have to truly worry about is the stragglers. It's all slowly returning to normal. Look over there, do you see that?"

Richard turned his head to the place the soldier was talking about. He realized what he was talking about once they saw a garlic stand completely crowded, with a man over a crate advertising about them.

"I see that." Richard confirmed.

"There are still people who seek to make a profit out of tragedy. although this is still better than before. Wait, you arrived yesterday... You don't know anything, right?"

"No."

"Thought so. The vampires originally snuck into the castle. Once the King found out, he locked himself in the castle with all the vampires. Unfortunately, some vampires escaped, leaving the place infested with those shapeshifting vampires. This place turned into something like the Witch Hunt village to the south."

"I don't know about anything outside the Natalia region, mind you."

The soldier sighed at having to explain everything. "If the name didn't give it away, people started hunting for vampires who for some reason could change appearance into anyone else at any moment. People got paranoid and starting accusing others... One thing led to another and it got to the point the King himself had to intervene."

"Why weren't garlics used in the first place? I had to eat one when I came here."

"It was a surprise that those vampires were immune to sunlight, it was only natural to assume that the same applied to garlic. -Well look at that, we're here."

They arrived at the blacksmith's, opening the door making the door's bell ring and walking in. Inside, Richard was met with the sight of racks upon racks of armor, weapons and ammunition of every imaginable kind. Such was the magnitude of weapons and armor that it'd be possible to arm a small company with only what's in display.

"Welcome." The blacksmith greeted them from behind the counter. "Ah, I see you have returned."

The blacksmith immediately recognized Richard and began looking for something behind the counter. He found Richard's shield and placed it over the wooden counter. Then, he began explaining what he did while pointing at several parts of the shield.

"It sure took a beating, it was slightly dented near the middle in a straight line. The damage might've been negligible superficially, but it was smart to bring it for a quick check since the structure of it was weakened. I managed to repair it, coat it with a layer of steel to fill any irregularities like chipped surfaces, and as you wished I covered it all in plain blue paint. Shame about the heraldry."

"What happened for that shield to bend?" A soldier questioned.

"Minotaur." Richard spoke while shrugging. "Good thing it was an axe and not a war hammer, or else I'd be dead."

"A minotaur?!" The blacksmith questioned, surprised. "You're lucky that shield didn't break! Those things can break the mightiest armor with a toothpick! I have to wonder who made this shield... Bah, I don't need more questions without answer. Everything will be 300 gold... Are you going somewhere with the soldiers?"

"We're part of the group that'll deal with the monster stragglers." A soldier answered.

The blacksmith was silent and with his eyes wide open, as if something was revealed to him. However, he came to his senses shortly after.

"Monsters..." He muttered. "I changed my mind. It's all free."

"What?" Richard questioned.

"Look around in my shop, pick anything you may need to fight those monsters. Take it as an investment."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Are you sure about not making certain that you'll have what you need just because you wanted to be polite?"

"...Why are you so determined?"

"I... Had a brother in the outer regions. Had..."

Richard kept silent, already understanding what he was heading for. He took a look around the shop but found nothing that'd be useful for him. For weapons, he already had his sword. For armor, anything more would just hinder him. However, something caught his eye. He saw the rack of bows and thought that he'd need a ranged weapon. Still, he knew that he had no knowledge about bows, so he kept looking until he saw the crossbows. It was common knowledge that to use a bow one would need years of training, maybe decades for its full potential, yet for a crossbow barely a week sufficed.

"I need a crossbow."

"You seem outfitted for close combat, those crossbows are for people who plan on using them as their main weapon, not a secondary element. They'll be too heavy and cumbersome for you."

"Damn."

"Wait here for a moment, I might have something at the back."

The blacksmith left through the door that led to the back part of the store, where everything not on display was stored. After a few minutes, he returned with a crossbow, although smaller than most.

"This..." The blacksmith explained while placing the small crossbow on the table. "...Is something I've been working on for adventurers like you. It's smaller as you might have guessed. It has less strength than full-sized crossbows, thus less range, but it's less cumbersome which allows you to carry it easily and use it as a secondary weapon. Do you know how to use one?"

"No."

"I feared that when you picked the crossbow after rejecting the bow. Anyways, it's so simple a child can use it. No joke here, only thing a child needs is strength. Anyways, this..." The blacksmith took a lever from below the counter and placed it next to the crossbow. "...Is a 'Goat's foot' lever. You place it like this over the string... Then over these two wooden bits to the side... And..." With a smooth movement, he pulled the lever while holding the crossbow by its front, drawing the string easily. "It's done. It's that simple to draw the crossbow. After that..." He took a bolt from below the counter, then placed it on the drawn crossbow. "...You place this thing here." He grabbed the crossbow with both hands and aimed it at the shop's door bell. "See this little thing below the crossbow where my hand is? You pull it, and-" He fired the crossbow, with the bolt flying at the bell and piercing it without any effort. "-Magic happens, and monsters die. It's that simple. Of course, if you already have years of training with a bow, it beats the crossbow in most if not every way. That's why you see these kids running around with bows."

"Fascinating."

"Glad to know you like it. I'll get a quiver with bolts from the back of the shop shortly. Need anything else?"

"No. Nothing else." He answered, grabbing the crossbow from the table and holding it by its stock. At the same time, the blacksmith headed to the back of the shop.

Once he saw the leather strap of the crossbow, he realized he didn't have much space to hold it. After thinking for a while, he decided to leave the crossbow on the counter, take off his backpack, and transfer its contents to his various pouches. Fortunately enough, they all seemed to fit, leaving the backpack empty. This allowed him to leave the backpack and place his new crossbow in its place on his back.

"That crossbow," The blacksmith explained, returning and placing a quiver full of bolts on the counter. "Plus the repairs and the bolts, cost quite a bit of gold, so try to repay that by killing as many monsters as you can. Well, at least those who are not as friendly as that rat girl."

"You've got a deal."

"Good boy. You're all set and ready, unless you need anything else."

"Nothing more, thanks again." Richard said, walking to the door.

"Don't mention it."

"Damn, kid." One of the soldiers spoke while following Richard, looking at how he walked with sword, shield and crossbow. "You heading out to kill the Monster Lord?"

Everyone shared a laugh at the joke.

"Well, now that you have something to shoot, you can be of use to us horse archers." The other remarked.

"Let's go, I'm growing impatient." Richard spoke while opening the door. "Farewell, blacksmith."

"Remember the deal." The blacksmith answered while waving his arm.

* * *

Seeing as their time was running short, the two soldiers and Richard decided to head for the stables where the rest of the soldiers awaited. It didn't take much to reach them, seeing as the city had shrunk in size with the distance being reduced as a result. Outside the stables, four other soldiers awaited, chatting and eating by themselves.

"Well look who's here." One of the soldiers outside the stables called for everyone's attention once he saw Richard and the other two arriving. Immediately thereafter, the remaining three soldiers looked at them arrive. "What took you guys so long?"

"Had some business to take care of." The soldier next to Richard answered while tapping his shoulder before heading off for a horse.

All the soldiers, seeing as there's nothing else to do but move out, decided to head for a horse.

"Am I gonna have to walk?" Richard questioned, seeing the soldiers mounting.

"You were given a horse, it's at the end. If you survive, it's a gift."

"As if I'm going to let myself get killed in the desert of all places." He muttered while walking towards the end of the stable. There he met the horse that'd be his from now on, a plain horse by San Ilia standards judging by looks, but since it was a Sabasa warhorse it must've been bred for mobility and stamina, not raw strength. Shrugging it off, he placed his foot on the stirrup and forced himself up, grabbing the reins and moving to meet the others who were ready to move out.

"You know what to expect?" One of the soldiers asked Richard.

"We already explained everything when we were at the inn." Another soldier answered.

"Better that way. Alright, everyone move out."

* * *

The steps of the horses walking among the abandoned buildings and ruins of the deserted city echoed in the air, for there was no other noise to be heard. Only the wind was present with a weak blow. The presence of the ruined buildings reminded Richard of the eerie feeling he had when he arrived in Sabasa, although far worse now that he understood what was happening.

"What caused such destruction?" He questioned. Most of the ruined buildings showed sign of fighting, but others were destroyed completely. It was clear that mere desert monsters couldn't do that alone.

"A roc."

"And that is...?"

"A giant bird, big enough to block the sun wherever it went. It was one of the ten giants that attacked, or so I heard. I participated in the defence here, the only way we could kill it was by shooting its wings enough times to cause it to fall. Then we ganged up on it before it recovered. Thankfully, it was only one, so I'm assuming the giants had spread out before the attack to cause even more destruction. But still, that damned roc could dive down and destroy any defences we had in place for the attacking monsters. Before we could kill it, we were losing miserably, no matter how much effort you applied they simply kept coming and coming. Those that ran were intercepted, those that stood their ground were killed. Falling back to a better position only increased the death count for both civilians and soldiers. In all my years I've never seen monsters so... Smart."

"The civilians couldn't escape?"

"That's not it. The defence was so damn desperate that the civilians had to be conscripted. Thankfully everyone here knows how to use a bow ever since it became a hobby for everyone to shoot on saturday mornings. It wasn't until that damned bird fell that we managed to gain the upper hand. I'm guessing it was similar for the others."

"Tell me." Another soldier asked Richard. "Is it true what I heard? That you're wanted dead in San Ilia?"

"Unfortunately, it is. That's why I headed here to begin with."

"Damn. You better watch out for any bounty hunters or assassins, they'll probably send some here."

"The king said I'd be under his protection, so I'm not really that worried."

"The king himself said that? Damn, you're one lucky bastard-"

Their small talk was interrupted, however, by the sound of a structure breaking down and crumbling, with the distinctive cloud of dust looming over the buildings from where it originated. Without a delay, the soldiers took out their bows while Richard prepared his crossbow. The soldier in front of the formation signalled with his arm to move forward, and so, the rest of the men galloped to the source of the noise.

Their anticipation changed to confusion once they arrived to find no monsters in sight, just a house which had fallen upon itself recently.

"Things like this always put me on the edge." A soldier mention while dismounting, walking closer to the recently-made ruins.

"It must have been the wind." Another soldier spoke.

"There's barely any wind." The soldier retorted while inspecting the ruins and the ground. "I think... Yeah, footsteps."

"So monsters were here recently?" Ryada questioned while everything followed the footsteps with their eyes that became clear now that everyone was actually looking for them.

"Looks like we found what we were looking for." One of the soldiers stated, manning the reins of his horse to gallop along the footsteps on the ground. Soon enough everyone was following the footsteps along the sandy streets of the ruined district.

It wasn't long until their luck ran short. They turned round a corner to follow the footsteps but they simply ended there, leaving them confused. They simply stood on the empty streets that led nowhere.

"They must have realized we were following them and hid the footsteps." A soldier suggested.

"Keep moving." The soldier at the front ordered. "Look around for movement."

As he commanded, the horse archers slowly moved forward with their eyes looking for anything strange in the surrounding area. They knew very well that there were monsters nearby and that they were aware of their presence here. Their bows were already half drawn and aimed at wherever they looked.

"Anybody found anything?"

"A penny."

"Shut the fuck up."

They kept moving past the buildings and ruins, staring around but ultimately finding nothing. The thought of the monsters clearing the footsteps simply to escape began to cross the soldiers' mind already, but at the same time the unnerving thought of the monsters knowing of their presence remained.

"R-Richard..." Ryada spoke, frightened, holding onto Richard's hood tightly with her hands.

"What?"

"I hear something weird close to us, it's not the soldiers..."

"Close?" Richard questioned, right before turning to the soldiers. "Hey, hey! Everyone stop for a second!"

"What is it, San Ilian?"

"What do you hear?" Richard asked Ryada.

"Steps, but on something solid, not like the streets. More like a floor slightly covered in sand."

"If those noises are the monsters, then they didn't run away." A soldier remarked. "You think they're in the buildings?"

"No, it's... Different." Ryada continued. "I don't feel any echo so it's not inside a building, it's outside."

"If they're not inside the buildings..." Richard thought to himself while looking around, until his sight changed to the top of the buildings. "...Aw hell."

Just at that moment, the steps could be heard clearly as if they intensified in volume.

"They're on the rooftops!" A soldier yelled while turning around and retreating as the monsters revealed themselves on top of the buildings down the streets and chased them. Ryada had heard how they prepared for an ambush. "We were walking right into it!"

"Fall back!" Another soldier yelled.

The horse archers quickly turned around and galloped away, shooting their arrows at the monsters who were chasing them on the rooftops while riding, although not with much efficiency due to the almost prohibitive terrain. Richard, galloping with the others, took out the lever of his crossbow out and set it in place, then tried pulling it to draw the string. However, he could not do so for it required far more strength than what he had imagined. He tried again, applying more strength but ending up with the crossbow almost moving out of his hands. Annoyed by his sudden lack of intelligence, he placed the stirrup-like edge of the crossbow on his foot and pulled the lever with the added stability, thus enabling him to draw the string. He moved the crossbow closer to him and took a bolt out of his quiver that was tied to his thigh, then placed it on the crossbow, but as he turned around to aim he saw how the monsters were already retreating. It seemed they realized they'd not catch up. He sighed in slight disappointment as he lifted his crossbow, but shrugged it off.

"Richard!" A soldier yelled.

"What?"

"Go chase them through the rooftops, we'll chase them through the streets. That'll leave them with nowhere to hide from any of us."

"You got it."

He dismounted from his horse and ran towards the ruins of another building, then very carefully he climbed the rubble that seemed to create a makeshift ramp until he ended up at the roof of the house next to it. He could see from the height of the roofs how the horse archers galloped through the streets in the general direction the monsters were going. And so, since he could see the monsters clearly as they ran, he decided to take aim and concentrate.

The bolt was sent flying out of the crossbow, flying through the air until it impacted against a monster's back, a lizard girl, causing her to trip forward and fall to the streets below before she could jump. However, such action gained the attention of another humanoid monster next to the lizard girl, who looked for the source of the shot and found him standing far behind them.

"That thing..." Richard questioned while covering his eyes from the sun glare, having difficulty in seeing what the monster that now ran towards him was. "Is that...-" He could not even curse, his heart almost tearing out of his chest once he realized it was a salamander girl, throwing his crossbow aside. "Ryada, hide." He ordered while quickly grabbing Ryada and leaving her on the ground. She understood by his tone that this was something he alone had to handle, thus, she ran to a crack of the crumbling building. Then he quickly took out his shield and unsheathed his sword, ready to meet the salamander in combat.

Before he knew it, the salamander was directly in front of him already swinging her sword at him. He managed to block the attack with his shield, then tried to counter it by lunging his sword forward, only to fail miserably as she effortlessly parried it with her hand's scales. Immediately thereafter, the salamander punched him in the stomach with enough strength to make him lose his breath, but having not expected that he'd her arm with both hands and ram his helmet against her head. Both stumbled back, the salamander due to pain, and Richard due to losing his breath.

They both took stances with their weapons and circled each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Richard decided to be the one who attacked and lunged forward with his sword, expecting the salamander to either dodge or parry. He was surprised when the salamander simply moved and gripped the sword with her scaled hands, grabbing it with her palm and fingers in such a way that both edges of the sword didn't even touch her. Then, before Richard could react, she pulled on it, making him trip forward and fall to the ground. She lifted her foot and drove it down against him, but Richard managed to raise his shield before he was struck, leaving the Salamander stepping on his shield. With a swift movement, he struck her knee bones with the hilt of his sword, causing her to back off in pain and leave him able to move aside and stand up.

Had he been fighting another monster, he'd think this fight would be going well above his expectations. However, against a salamander, the longer one spends fighting, the worse the situation becomes. This thought was reflected by the salamander's tail which began to burn with even greater intensity than normal. Richard knew that the greater the flame, the less the chances of winning are. He also knew he was losing since the beginning, for he failed to kill her immediately.

As both of them circled each other once again, Richard desperately tried coming up with a solution to this. Using himself as bait like in his service in the Unbaptized would not work, for salamanders are uninterested unless the victim is the strongest they've faced. Not only that, even if he was the strongest man she faced she's leave him completely defeated and exhausted before trying anything. Running away was out of the question, for he'd not leave Ryada behind. Trying to defeat her in a straight fight as soon as possible remained the only option, and so, he began thinking of what weaknesses he could exploit. Looking at her, he saw that she didn't have much armor apart from the natural scales in her legs and arms, plus what scales she seemed to be wearing instead of being natural over her shoulders, waist and breasts. Apart from that, she only had small clothes covering what remained. She didn't have a shield either, which seemed to emphasize her focus on the offensive. As he kept looking, he became unnerved by her expression. Her eyes were narrowed and he smile wide with her tongue licking her lips.

He decided what to do next. Since she appeared to be focused on the offensive and overwhelming strength, he assumed she was lacking in defensiveness. Wishing to exploit that weakness, he focused on fighting her entirely on the offensive, hoping to overwhelm her instead of being overwhelmed.

First, he slowly moved towards her with his sword aimed at her and his shield high to give the impression he was going on the defensive. This seemed to work, making her grip her sword tighter and move her feet as if she was preparing for something. Once he was close enough, the salamander, as he thought she would, charged at him with all her strength. Seeing the opportunity, he charged at her while letting out a yell, placing his shield in front of him and aiming to bash her with it. This surprised her, to say the least. She received the full force of the shield with her body causing her to be thrown back, but regaining her balance. Richard pressed on, swinging his sword at her which was blocked by her sword. Without letting her react to counter his attack, he swung his shield at her in a way that'd strike with its side, forcing her to use her other hand to stop it. He drove his foot into her stomach without her being able to block it, causing her excruciating pain and sending her back tripping and falling on the ground. Without wasting any time, he ran towards her ready to finish her off, only for her tail to strike his legs and cause him to painfully fall onto the ground. She stood up and, seeing Richard completely exhausted on the ground, tried to pounce him before he could do anything. Her idea failed once he intercepted her pounce with his foot, using her own weight against her and sending her flying over him, crash-landing onto the roof with enough force to make the pain drain her strength temporarily. With his remaining strength, Richard stood up and looked at the salamander who was writhing on the ground in pain. Her tail burned of even a greater intensity as she tried to recover, meaning that at any second she'd regain her strength while he was left without any. He desperately ran towards the salamander who was on the ground and grabbed her sword, leaving her unarmed. Then he placed his foot over her back and aimed the end of his sword at her neck while she laid panting on the ground, immobile. She didn't react, she just kept breathing and looking at him, waiting.

"Did..." Richard questioned with his panting interrupting his words. "Did you lose your will to live?"

"I..." The salamander spoke, with her face now scarlet red and the dust blown by her breath. "I... Love you..."

Richard was stunned by the sudden words that barely made any sense to him.

"...What?" He questioned while tilting his head to the side.

"I love you... I want you... To become my husband..."

He was dumbfounded and speechless. He figured she still had enough strength to fight even with her scaled fists, but she didn't try anything at all. Not only that, despite being defeated the flames on her tail didn't die down.

"Why are you saying that?" He asked. "You don't even know who I am."

"You're stronger than I am... Stronger than anyone I've seen... I want you to make love to me..."

"What- Just what the hell are you saying?! Okay, listen, I want you to answer some questions. Are you going to answer them?"

"Yes, husband."

"Agh... What do you have against humans?"

"Nothing."

"...Then why did you and the rest of the monsters massacre all these people?"

"I wanted to find the one... To find you... I didn't care what the others did as long as I was able to find you... I may have not followed their ideas of senseless killing, but it was probably my only chance..."

"So you weren't aiming to kill me?"

"Of course not. Even if you weren't that strong, killing you would serve no purpose."

Richard, still skeptical about her intentions, decided to back off a little distance while keeping sight of her, walking towards the crossbow he had thrown aside. As he moved back, he saw her slowly and with great effort sitting up towards him, looking at him with her cheeks scarlet red and her tail moving, still engulfed in flames. He sheathed his sword, placed his shield on his back and picked up his crossbow, using the goat's foot lever to draw the string, then placed a bolt on it. With a quick movement, he threw the salamander's sword in her direction, landing close to her. He saw how she stood up, walked up to it, picked it up and placed it on her back. However, he became unnerved when she started walking towards him.

"Keep your distance." He ordered, holding his crossbow.

"Will you become my husband?"

He tilted his head in annoyance and confusion.

"No."

"Now?"

"No."

"...Now?"

"The shit I put up with... Ryada!"

The rat girl appeared after Richard called for her, quickly running towards him and climbing up until he reached his shoulder. Ready to leave, Richard spent a few minutes trying to remember anything else about salamanders. From what he could recall from the San Ilia catalogs, salamanders aren't known to attack humans at all, but they're natural-born warriors with a frank and hot-blooded personality. If they see a human warrior, they'll aggressively challenge him to battle, which would serve to confirm her intentions from before. No matter if a battle ends in victory or defeat, if their flames don't die down it means they've found an opponent who presented the best fight. For him this didn't make sense, he was far from being a proper fighter, but since Sabasa focuses more on archers than in melee combat, it could be somewhat possible that he was the best fighter she had encountered just for now. Richard also thought that most people would be too engulfed by lust to fight properly, which made this scenario not that farfetched.

However, one little detail made Richard uncomfortable. Once the flames on the tail of a salamander start burning, they'll never die down. And since he was the one who caused it, she'd follow him until the end of the world. Still, for him it's better than being wanted dead.

With his mind clear, he took the bolt out of his crossbow and carefully unstrung it. Since the fight with the salamander took too much time, trying to chase the other monsters would be useless at this point.

"So you're not going to try to kill me?" He asked one last time.

"No." The salamander answered.

"Good enough for me. What's your name?"

"...Nuri."

"My name's Richard. She's Ryada."

Seeing as he didn't know where the horsemen were, he decided to walk over the rooftops to try and find them, with the salamander walking right behind him. It was quite easy to travel this way due to the innumerable ruins leaving a makeshift ramp next to the buildings.

It wasn't until long that he saw a building which towered over the others with its height. Richard descended from the rooftops onto the ground with Nuri following and broke into the building, figuring he'd have a better sight of everything around him. He got inside and walked up the stairs of the abandoned building until he reached the last floor, where he opened the hatch on the ceiling and climbed a small ladder to reach the roof.

The sight he received wasn't exactly what he had in mind. As soon as he stared around he was met with the sight of a kingdom in ruins, of a kingdom abandoned and broken. Wherever he looked, destruction and lifelessness met his eyes. Even in the distance laid the wingless roc the soldiers spoke of earlier, with a great line of buildings before it destroyed marking just how badly it crash landed. Richard could do nothing but stare at the amount of damage in front of him, realizing that this was far, far worse than what San Ilia had to suffer. Only now did he realize through how much Sabasa had to pull through, how many sacrifices had to be made, and how fragile the kingdom remains.

He figured simply staring wouldn't do any good, so he decided to look around and try to find the horsemen's location. Looking at each section individualy would take ages, so he sat down at the border of the roof and stared at where he assumed the horsemen headed to. He focused on the entire area and tried to see if something moved in his peripheral view.

His idea worked once he saw movement. He focused on what he saw and narrowed his eyes, seeing the horsemen slowly walking back through the street. Upon closer inspection, they also had several monsters tied and following them as prisoners. They had surrendered.

"Lucky bastards are all still alive." Richard muttered, smiling behind his helmet.

They both climbed down the hatch and walked down the building's stairs until they were at the bottom floor, where they walked out the main door to get outside. By the time they crossed the door, the horsemen had already arrived to where they were.

"Richard, Ryada, nice to see you both are alive." One soldier greeted them. "Wait... Isn't that salamander one of the monsters that attacked us?"

"I am Richard's wife." Nuri proudly stated.

Her statement cause the horsemen to burst out laughing hysterically. Richard was not amused in the slightest. However, it wasn't long until one soldier choked on his own spit once he realized something.

"Wait, wait wait." He exclaimed, his expression having changed from laughter to shock. "You, salamander, you said Richard's your husband?"

"Of course he is."

Richard simply placed his palm over his visor in annoyance.

"Richard, did you... Did you defeat that salamander all on your own?"

The soldier's question server to enlighten the rest of the soldiers' minds, causing them to abruptly end their laughter with a gasp and give Richard their undivided attention.

"Yes, I did. Why are you making such a big deal out of it?" He retorted, assuming that simple intelligence was required to fight properly.

Everyone was silent at his response, however. They simply stared at him with eyes that showed confusion and awe.

"...What kind of training did this bastard have?" One of the soldiers muttered.

* * *

"Husband~" Nuri called for Richard in a playful tone.

"No."

"Husband~"

"I said no."

"Husband~"

"Henrich damn it..."

"At this pace you'll have an army behind you." Ryada stated, half asleep.

"I'll make sure to cut my own throat before that happens."

It was the afternoon of the same day Richard met Nuri, both having returned to Sabasa after the defeat of the raiders. Fortunately for Nuri, and unfortunately for Richard, there was only one horse for them to move on. This gave Nuri the opportunity to simply hug Richard all the way back.

He was not amused.

"Husband~"

Richard simply let out a loud sigh of defeat. He knew he'd not be able to do anything about this. Still, he tried to get this situation off his head by looking around and trying to distract himself with something. However, just as his eyes looked around the scenery, he spotted something in one of the stores. Something red and shiny, lots of them boxed on display inside, with a thin glass in front of them.

"Are those...?" He questioned to himself, steering the horse closer. "Sweet mother of mercy."

He jumped off immediately, leaving Ryada on the saddle with Nuri questioning what was going through his mind. Richard reached for one of his pouches to see how much gold he had, soon realizing he barely spent any at all except for the inn accommodations. Joyful and with his spirit high, he burst into the store.

"What did he see?" Nuri questioned, curious.

"You're asking me?" Ryada answered.

Not after long, Richard left the store holding a leather bag as big as his head in his hand, completely filled.

"I've got enough strawberries to end a war." Richard cheered.

"Strawberries...?" Both Nuri and Ryada questioned to themselves.

"What? I like them and I had gold to spare." He explained while eating one. "Neither of your had one before?"

Both shook their heads in unison.

"You're missing life itself."

He walked up to his horse and got up. Then, he turned around and held the bag open for Nuri to grab one. Once she grabbed one, he grabbed another one and handed it to Ryada.

Ryada was the first one to have a bite.

"This... This is sweet. I like it!" She stated with her mouth full.

"I don't know about this..." Nuri spoke, skeptical, staring at the strange berry on her hand.

"Just try it." Richard said, manning the reins of the horse to make it move forward.

"Are you sure?"

"Want me to hold it in my mouth and feed it to you?"

"Yes." She stated immediately, blushing and with her eyes wide open.

"Too bad."

"You're mean, hubby..."

"I'm not your husband. I never agreed to this."

"Too bad."

"If I didn't get anywhere with him, chances are you won't either." Ryada stated.

"At least I'm his size."

"The only good trait you have."

"All that I need."

"Doesn't look like it."

"Smart little rat, are you?"

"So you're admitting even I am smarter than you?"

"Both of you, shut up." Richard interrupted.

"Richard!" An unknown voice yelled from afar. Following it was the violent trotting sound of a horse that got closer and closer.

Richard turned around to see who was calling for him. It was a soldier, who arrived to his side.

"Hey Richard, remember about those monsters we captured?"

"What about them?"

"Well they spoke up. It'd be better if you just went to the castle dungeon to get an explanation, even the King himself is there. I was sent to tell you this."

"Fine, I'll go." He stated before the soldier turned around and left for the castle. As soon as he was out of hearing range, he let out a loud sigh of annoyance. "I need some rest after this... Badly..."

* * *

Richard walked down the stairs of a dark corridor lit up with torches on the walls, with Nuri following behind him and Ryada, as ever, over his shoulder. After a while, he stepped on solid plain floor and kept walking through the hallway filled with cells to the side. This was the dungeon of the castle where his presence was requested. He kept on walking, finding the monsters in a cell each. Some were eating, others sleeping, and the rest simply staring at Richard as he walked past. Afterwards, he turned a corner of the long hallway and met a few soldiers in front of a cell with a monster inside. Even the King was with them.

"Well met, Richard." The king greeted him, seeing Richard walk closer. "-Are those... Strawberries?" He questioned, seeing Richard holding the bag of strawberries open and eating.

Richard simply nodded, unable to talk with his mouth full. The King simply raised an eyebrow.

"Repeat what you said." A soldier spoke up to the monster behind the bars, walking forward to the cell.

Richard, curious, decided to take a look at the monster to see what kind of monster she was.

It was coyote girl, sitting on the floor with a defeated stare.

She looked at the soldier and gave a deep breath before starting.

"The men were not all killed." She said, gaining Richard's attention. "We captured whoever we could and left the ones we couldn't keep alive to die. They're held as cattle for their essence in a cave in the mountains to the north. The group I was in was supposed to raid the region for anything edible so as to keep them alive. That's all I know."

"So, what do you think, Richard?" The soldier asked him.

"What am I supposed to think of this?"

"Give it a wild guess. There are monsters in a cave guarding the men held as prisoners. There are monsters to be killed, and men to be rescued."

Richard spent a few seconds trying to figure out what the soldier was thinking, until he spat out the strawberry he was chewing once he realized what he was talking about.

"Are you crazy!?" He questioned violently. "We'll have to assault a cave! Sabasa may have the best archers in this world, but their melee is worse than a toddler's!"

"Do you have a better idea? If we siege that cave, the men will starve first. They're probably the last stragglers too."

"If they're truly the last remaining monsters..." Another soldier remarked. "...We'll end up fighting the remaining giant."

"Do elaborate." Richard ordered.

"Nine of the ten giants that were reported were killed, but there's one nobody has seen yet. It could have been a smoke screen from that vampire to make us get paranoid about another giant, but it could have also been truth. Either way, since they're the main group of monsters, we don't lose anything if we throw everything we've got at it. Well... Apart from our lives."

"Nuri..." Richard quietly questioned.

"Yes, husband?"

"Did you know anything about this?"

"Yes."

"And why didn't you tell me?"

"Well... You didn't ask."

All over the dungeon, the sound of his gauntlet striking his visor could be clearly heard. Afterwards, with his spirit already seeing the best way out as a tactical nightmare, he walked to a wall and sat down, with his back leaning on it.

"So." He questioned. "What's going to happen now? Are we really going to assault a cave with just archers? Even if we had the troops San Ilia has- ...Once had, the casualties would be ridiculously high. It doesn't matter how good things are, we'd be jumping into a meat grinder were raw strength becomes the deciding factor. It's kind of obvious that a weak monster has far more strength than the strongest human. At best... We'd end up throwing men in that cave until one side dies out."

"It depends, truly." The soldier spoke. "The geography of the cave can change everything. It could be comprised of twists and turns, making it the meat grinder you spoke of... Or it could be a single straight passage. Then, our archers will be able to shoot them from afar. The problem is we have no knowledge of that cave. We didn't even know it existed."

"Nuri, you know anything?"

Nuri simply shrugged.

"I spent most of my time simply raiding, sleeping and eating in the outer regions." She explained.

"We'd be blindly assaulting the cave, then. Nobody can scout that cave either. By the time one of us can see something we'd be spotted and the entire cave alerted. They'll have some monsters guarding the entrance, no doubt."

"I can go inside and scout." Ryada spoke up. "I'm small so it'll be hard for any monsters to see me."

"Well it wasn't that hard to see you in the Forest of Spirits..." Richard remarked. "And- Wait, what!?"

"That isn't a bad idea, actually." The soldier stated.

"She doesn't even have any experience in this!"

"You know, experience isn't exactly gained in this subject. And with no scouts we'll not be able to know what to expect in that cave."

Richard meditated on his words, thinking of the possible choices he had at hand. He could either let Ryada scout ahead and risk her safety for the sake of the soldiers, or force Ryada to stay back and risk the lives of many, but with her safety assured.

"How is it going to be?" Richard questioned. "She enters, scouts, gets out, we go in and kill everything?"

"That's counter-productive, and it'll get her killed. Assuming you allow her to take part in this, she'll go with you and a group of archers into the cave. She'll run forward and scout the general area while the rest of you advance. Once she finds something of interest, like monsters or terrain, she'll immediately return to the group and warn them. They'll take care of the situation accordingly and advance. Then she'll go ahead again and repeat until they reach the end. Obviously this'd change the general idea from 'Assault' to 'Infiltration'."

"And what if she doesn't go?"

"As I said... We'd be jumping blindly into the meat grinder. We'd push forward, most likely alert the entire cave, and end up with those monsters charging at us. They know we can't do anything in a close fight, and they'll take advantage of that. Then it becomes a battle of attrition. I'll be honest, even if we had two thousand men, that strategy has a great chance of failing."

He kept on thinking on what choice he could make.

"Ryada... Are you sure about this?" He asked, turning his head at her.

"I know the risks. And I know that sooner or later I'll have to do something. It's better for me to do this, now that I know what to expect, rather than later when life catches me by surprise."

Richard sighed, defeated.

"Fine, she'll go." He told the soldier.

"Rest assured that even if she's seen, the monsters will aim to kill us instead of her. After all, she's just a rat. ...No offense. Also, will that salamander participate? She seems to be on our side now."

"I'll go with my husband wherever he goes, even if it's the cold lands of Noah."

"...'Husband'?" The soldier questioned, dumbfounded. The stares of the other soldiers and the King himself shared his confusion.

"Oh boy here we go..." Richard said with an annoyed tone, smashing the back of his head against the wall. "That's salamander behaviour. They get obsessed with whoever defeats or presents the best fight."

"Did you really defeat her all on your own?" The king questioned.

"Yes."

"So, the rumors I heard were true. Your strength is remarkable, Richard."

Richard simply tapped his helmet with a finger, right before heading for the bag of strawberries. "So, when will the attack begin?"

"It'll take a few days to mobilize the remaining soldiers, but not too long." The King answered. "However, there won't be many men taking part in it. As sudden as the attack was, another can arrive. Not to mention perhaps other raiders can strike."

"We were the only raiders." The coyote girl spoke up.

"Is that so? You lot moved with so much speed it seemed there were more."

"How can you people trust what the prisoners say?" Richard questioned.

"We'll see if she speaks the truth. I promised them amnesty if they aided us. The only other alternative is death. Doesn't take a genius to know what to do."

"I'm still skeptical. That coyote could be lying to leave Sabasa exposed to another attack."

"She tells the truth." Nuri interrupted.

"Then you guys can ignore everything I just said." Richard continued. "Still, what about that remaining giant? Is it true that nobody even knows what kind of giant it is?"

"Unfortunately, that's true." A soldier answered.

Richard banged his head against the wall again, now staring at the ceiling.

"Nuri, are you sure about fighting and killing those you once fought with?"

"The only reason I fought with them was to find you." She answered. "Their senseless killing and cruelty already unnerved me enough."

"I see." He spoke as he stood up with great effort. "Ryada, Nuri and I will participate in the assault." He told the soldier as he walked to the exit. "I'll be staying at the inn for now. If you need something, you know where to find me."

* * *

Richard, Nuri, and Ryada arrived to the inn after walking their way from the castle. However, once they opened the door and walked in, they were met with strange looks from those inside. From all corners of the inn, people stared at them in silence.

"She's with me." Richard stated while walking, raising an arm.

After that statement, the inn slowly and steadily returned to a state close to normal, but not entirely so. It was obvious their attention was immediately caught once they saw a monster walking into the inn. Worse still, a desert monster.

"Here for the night again?" The inn keeper asked, confused by Nuri's presence.

"Again." Richard answered, taking out a few gold coins and placing them over the counter.

While the inn keeper grabbed the coins, Richard left for the room upstairs with Nuri following him from behind.

He reached the door and simply pushing himself against him while twisting the doorknob out of exhaustion, opening it and walking inside. He unslung his crossbow and left it against the wall. He took off his shield and dropped it next to the crossbow, then he removed his sheathed sword and remaining pouches, letting them fall in the pile. Afterwards, he dragged himself to the bed and threw himself on it, finally being able to rest.

At the same time, Ryada came out from under his hood and stretched, lying down next to him for a nap.

Nuri simply stared at the room, fascinated by the look of a non-ruined building taken care of, but as soon as she looked at Richard her attention shifted immediately. She saw him exhausted on the bed without much strength anymore. For her, this was an opportunity, and she knew that very well as she smiled and licked her lips, and her tail burning as bright as before.

She slowly walked up to the bed until she was directly next to it. Then, she jumped on top of Richard, causing the bed to recoil back and throw Ryada away, with her sudden scream of fright following her across the room, all while Richard followed her flying path with his eyes. There was no fear of injury for her since her smaller size and weight meant less risk of injury.

Richard's stare switched from Ryada to Nuri's lustful expression.

"What are you planning?" He questioned nonchalantly.

Nuri moved her now scarlet red face closer to Richard with her eyes shining. "You should know this already..." She softly answered, moving her hand down his torso.

Richard remained immobile, thinking. He remembered how Nuri stated that she ate whatever she found in the ruins, meaning that what she'd do wouldn't be ultimately required for her to stay alive. What's more, he began thinking that perhaps no monster needed it at all. He realized he didn't even know why he thought monsters would need a man's essence to live, apart from risk of starvation. He reacted by sighing with annoyance and raising his hand towards her, moving her away by pushing her forehead with his finger.

Nuri raised her hand and entangled her fingers with Richard's, stopping him.

"Are you trying to deny my love...?" She questioned with a small laugh.

"Are you trying to deny my sleep?" He answered with yet another question.

"Why, yes. I am. And..." She softly spoke, untangling her fingers and placing both her hands behind his head, moving her face closer to his. "...You're too tired to do anything."

"Do you really believe that?"

"Prove me wrong." She challenged him. "Might as well be a rematch for that fight I lost..."

Richard accepted the challenge by quickly raising his arms attempting to grab her shoulders, only for her to recoil back with a smile and intercepting his hands with hers, entangling their fingers once again. Immediately thereafter, she tried to move both his arms aside to bring her closer to him while he did the opposite of what she intended.

"You're mine~" Nuri stated, losing herself in her thoughts, feeling how Richard's arms slowly started shaking out of exhaustion.

"As if." He retorted, letting his arms give in and moving at her with his whole upper body, making her accidentally collide against him. He swiftly moved around to use her own weight against her and caused her to switch positions, forcing her to be thrown against the bed with him lying on top of her with his head on the pillow besides her.

"Richard~! You're squishing me~!" She exclaimed, immobile and aroused.

"Shut up." He ordered, exhausted. "Let me sleep now."

"...What?" She questioned, realizing he'd not move at all. "H-hey!"

"If I let you move, you won't let me sleep." He stated, now falling asleep.

"Aw..." She complained, saddened.

Still, she smiled once she realized that despite not getting what she wanted with him they were still together. She wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes, wishing to spend her first night with him in any way.

After a while, Ryada finally managed to climb up the bed, reaching the top while panting.

"What was that for?!"


	5. Chapter 5: Remnants

Days later, Richard, Nuri, Ryada and a group of Sabasa bowmen galloped along the mountain line. They were no more than ten, for they were simply the ones who would arrive first at the cave. The idea was to reach the cave with a small force and kill any monster that stood near the entrace, since the sound of two hundred horsemen arriving would cause enough noise for the monsters to be alerted.

"How far are we?" Richard questioned.

"I'm guessing..." A soldier spoke while looking around, raising his hand up to his eyes to cover himself from the sun's glare. "...Close enough. Everyone, dismount."

His orders were heard by the rest, who stopped on their tracks and quickly jumped off their horses.

Richard's attention shifted from his task to one of the bowmen once he saw him dismounting. He could see how he grabbed the bow from his horse's side and the quiver full of arrows, but what struck him was the size of those two things. The bow was of a size similar, if not even taller, to that of a man, and the arrows half that size. In comparison, his crossbow was painfully tiny.

"...How can you people shoot those things?" Richard asked the soldier, walking besides him.

The intention was to move along the edge of the mountains so as not to be seen by the monster that may be present at the cave's entrance. Afterwards, the main force would arrive without fear of being detected.

"What, this?" The soldier asked back, raising his bow.

"Yes, the bow."

"Bow? Bows are the things that blacksmith in the city sells. These are longbows."

"Longbows...?"

"Doesn't the name give the definition away?"

"Then what's the difference with a normal bow, apart from being bigger?"

"More power. More range. Pierces armor better. It's a bitch to draw but, hey, I've had this bad boy ever since I was fifteen."

"And how old are you?"

"Forty. I've been shooting a longbow for twenty-five years."

"Is that the same for the others? So much training, I mean."

"Every Sabasan shoots longbows as a hobby, it's natural that they'd get better and better. And since it's a hobby rather than formal training, you can be sure that every Sabasan you see can shoot as well as any professional archer from the other regions. Okay, maybe not, but you get the idea."

"I see. Still, isn't it uncomfortable to shoot them on horse?"

"To be truthful, yes, it is. Painfully so. You can't draw the full weight of the bow that way either. Still, the mobility is better than anything. Especially in the desert, since those you fight against will get tired easily and will never catch up to you."

"And that's how the Sabasa army ended up comprised of archers and horse archers, right?"

"Now you're learning."

"Hey, Richard." A soldier in front of the formation called. "Come over here. Everyone else, halt."

"Yeah?" He questioned, walking up to the soldier.

"See that thing over there?" The soldier asked, pointing at a rock formation not too far in the distance.

"Yes."

"That's the entrance. If we keep moving, they're going to hear us. If there's anyone there, that is. Know what that means?"

"Unfortunately." He sighed. He moved his hand to his shoulder where Ryada rested and allowed her to move onto his arm, which he then lowered to place her on the ground. "Be careful now, alright?"

"I will."

"Just go there, see if there are any monsters and how many, and return."

"Alright."

With haste, she ran to the rock formation, leaving Richard, Nuri and the rest of the men waiting.

It didn't take long for her to view the general area of the cave entrance and return. After all, they were nearby already. As she returned, Richard extended his hand and lifted her up to be able to hear her.

"How many?" He asked her.

"Three. A scorpion, a cobra, and a lizard. They're all sitting against the wall on the opposite side."

Both Ryada's and Richard's attention shifted to one of the soldier giving the order for two others to follow him with their bows ready. Since they were three, it was clear they were going to eliminate the monsters. Those who stood were they were paid attention to how the three soldiers carefully moved to the area surrounding the cave entrance, using the mountain line as cover. Almost out of sight, a mere silhouette in the distance, they could see how they stopped, drew their bows, and let loose at the same time with the sound of the longbows' strings echoing in the air. The problem was quickly taken care of, confirmed by one of the soldiers raising his arm and waving at the others to move forward.

"Nice spotting." Richard congratulated Ryada on her first task. At the same time the rest walked down the mountain line to the cave's entrance with him following behind, and Nuri following behind him.

"Well..." A soldier began speaking while three others dragged the corpses away from the cave, so as not to be seen from inside. "...Since we're still alive and not being assaulted by an endless horde of monsters, it means that the monsters inside didn't hear anything. Which also means we can talk normally. Anyways, the ground inside the cave isn't completely rock nor is it as soft as sand, so we can use the stakes. Once the main force arrives, get them."

"Any idea how much it'll take them to arrive?" Richard questioned, not used to how the armies of Sabasa moved.

"Probably half an hour, maybe more but no more than an hour." He said while gripping his longbow and using it as a stick to draw on the sand. He drew a crude map of the surrounding area, which meant simply a line for where the mountain started and two lines for where the cave was. Simple. "This," he spoke as he drew a circle far from the cave entrance but adjacent to the mountain line, "is where I believe the main group is now. All we have to do is wait here and hold the area. Should a group of monsters appear from the cave and a chimpout occurs, we'll simply mount the horses and spray them with arrows. Hopefully they don't have any ranged weaponry. Also, about the horses, where's Hazim? Did he get the horses?"

"I'm here." A soldier answered while returning with the horses that were left behind moments ago.

"Good. Anyways, once everyone's here we'll divide into two groups as planned earlier. One stays outside for anything that may happen, the other gets in the cave. Since Nuri and you, Richard, are the best at close combat among us, you'll deal with anything that gets past our arrows. If, that is. Then, we rescue the men. Bottom line, if it moves, shoot it. If it screams like a woman, shoot it again. If it doesn't move, shoot it just to be sure."

"And if it screams like a man?" A random soldier questioned.

"It means you shot one of the men, you dumb fuck."

"Hey, look. To the east." A soldier spoke up.

Everyone's sight focused to the east along the mountainside, narrowing their eyes to see past the traces of sand flowing in the wind. They saw a great amount of dots along the horizon. As they moved closer and closer, their figure changed to taller beings in great numbers. That was the main group they were waiting for, the rest of the horsemen that'd arrive.

"How many are they?" Richard questioned, covering his helmet's visor from the sunglare.

"Probably around two to three hundreds."

"I thought there'd be more."

"Does Sabasa look like she can bring more?"

"Touch ."

It didn't take long for the horsemen to arrive at the scene. Immediately after they arrived, a small number of them dismounted and took out a stake each from the side of the horses, tying it behind them. Those who were dismounted from the start also did the same.

"Alright, we're set. Let's go." A soldier who began walking into the cave spoke up, with two others lighting up their torches and following. "Remember the plan. Rat girl, scout ahead. The rest, stay outside for any monster that might run out. Or for that giant."

At his command, twenty soldiers grouped together and marched into the cave. Ryada climbed down Richard and ran ahead into the cave. Richard and Nuri followed the archers inside, with the darkness increasing the more they walked.

"The air just got heavier." Richard remarked, walking.

"Contrasts, doesn't it? From the open desert into a cave only Ilias knows how deep." A soldier replied.

"One has to wonder how big this cave is if the stragglers and the men are here."

"It's in the mountains. It could be big enough to accommodate an entire army for all I know."

"I'm starting to get paranoid." Another soldier spoke up while walking closer. "This closed space, this silence... Knowing that ahead of us are a lot of monsters that can tear us apart if they get close. I get the feeling we're walking into a trap."

"Be calm." The other soldier reassured him. "Richard's rat girl will return if she sees any monsters."

"That's precisely what I'm fearing. What if those monsters caught her and we're blindly walking into them?"

"...S-shit.." Richard stuttered, now realizing in what kind of danger Ryada was.

"You made the poor sod nervous, retard." The soldier ranted.

"Sorry..."

The cave extended for kilometres on end. Twists and turns, narrow and wide tunnels, elevations and depressions, but fortunately no divisions that could lead into dead ends and confusion. It was all a single path that'd lead to the very end of the cave, illuminated by the torches the soldiers carried. Ryada had not returned yet and no monsters were encountered, leaving the soldiers with an uneasy feeling, the kind of feeling that anyone would get if they were expecting danger but not seeing anything. In this situation it was far worse, for the light of the torches wasn't strong enough to illuminate the entire path. There was always something not seen, be it where a turn led, or how the darkness engulfed the path in front.

Only after a long time did Ryada return, revealing herself from the darkness that seemed to devour what the light didn't reveal. At her sight, the men stopped on their tracks and paid attention to her, who ran at Richard and climbed up to his shoulder.

"What did you see?" Richard asked.

"Monsters. Lots of them. Haven't seen so many of them in one place. They're about... Couldn't get a certain number. Around fifty. Maybe more. The look of the cave changes too, it looked like a giant room in that place, the ceiling as high as one of those giant buildings. At the other side there's a passage, couldn't see what was past it."

"Well, shit." A soldier stated.

"What do we do? Do we plant the stakes here and hope they run into them?" Another soldier suggested.

"It might work." A soldier stated. "We can barely see anything in this place, they'll probably not notice them. Rat girl, did they have torches set around to illuminate that room?"

"Yes, they did."

"Then that means they can't see that well in the dark, unlike you. Alright. Everyone, plant the stakes in the narrowest part of this passage. Richard, you're used to this kind of plan, we need you to lure them somehow to charge us. Considering those monsters number half a hundred, they'll think they can catch us easily in this cave. Then, we'll shoot them while they're stuck trying to pass the stakes."

"Why am I going to be the bait?" Richard questioned.

"One archer baiting means one archer not shooting."

"Ah, I see- You're going to be shooting me along with the monsters while I run back!?"

"No. Well, not you necessarily."

"I hope the rumors of Sabasan accuracy were not false."

"As long as we can predict how and where you'll be running, you'll be fine. Now go."

"Heinrich protects..." He whispered to himself while placing Ryada down on the ground.

He turned around and walked into the darkness of the path ahead while the rest of the archers took out their stakes and nailed them on the ground with their mallets, all pointing at the direction where the monsters would come from. Nuri, having nothing to do, simply sat down and patiently waited.

"'Go lure them', they all say..." Richard kept whispering to himself, but this time while taking out his crossbow. "For how long have I been luring monsters? I can't even remember when I didn't." He gripped his crossbow on one hand and took out the goat's foot lever. "Well, at least it's not the old kind of luring, so that's a plus." He placed the goat's foot lever in place and drew the crossbow's string. Then, he set the bolt in place. Now all that remained is gaining the monsters' attention. Step by step he closed in on the cave's giant room, following the small illumination that emanated from the far end of the passage.

And so he arrived to the source of the light, staring into the room to see a large group of monsters gathered together. Talking, eating, walking around, they still had not spotted Richard, for he was beyond the reach of the torches. He thought to himself that the idea was to make every monster know of his presence and start chasing him, so shooting from the darkness wouldn't be the best idea. The monsters didn't have any ranged weaponry either, so he didn't risk much by simply walking in and shooting.

Decided, he firmly marched into the room with his crossbow raised in one hand until he was in sight. His presence was immediately discovered by the monsters, who one by one began staring at him until all the eyes were fixed on him, immobile and surprised.

He had a good look around the room, seeing all kinds of desertic monsters preying on him with their eyes but still not chasing, as if they knew Richard had no chance of escaping. In reality, if it wasn't for the trap set a short distance back, he'd not be able to outrun them either. In their eyes, he was a dead man walking. He decided to lower his crossbow and take aim, releasing the bolt at a monster nearby. Unfortunately, he aimed for the head but struck the neck instead, leaving the monster slowly dying with the sound of the blood getting into her lungs, desperately trying to breathe. Not wanting to wait for the monsters' reaction, he turned around and walked once more into the shadows, subsequently running at full sprint to the trap once he was out of sight.

His running got more desperate once he could feel the rumbling of the earth by their feet, and the yelling of the monsters giving chase.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck..." He muttered to himself, running as fast as his legs allowed. He turned his head to see how far the monsters were from him, only to give a loud scream of fright when he saw that they were directly behind him, catching up at an incredible pace. It'd not be long until he was caught. "Heinrich protects, Heinrich protects!" He screamed, desperately running while holding his crossbow.

He finally reached a sharp turn of the passage, running at it and propelling himself to where the turn led by pushing his arm against the wall as he turned.

"Shoot them!" Richard screamed, seeing the archers in position far behind the stakes.

"Nock!" A soldier yelled at the rest. The archers took an arrow and placed it along the string of their bows.

"You bastards didn't even have them ready!?" Richard kept screaming.

"Draw!" The soldier yelled. The archers now raised their longbows and drew the string, taking aim at the monsters behind Richard.

Richard kept running and running until he was almost at the stakes. The monsters were already close enough to him, trying to grab him by his surcoat.

"Loose!" The soldier yelled, giving the order for the archers to shoot. At his command, a barrage of twenty arrows flew across the passage, striking the monsters behind Richard while he dodged the stakes set on the ground. The monsters who were shot fell to the ground, making those behind them trip on their corpses and fall into the stakes. Those who didn't experience such fate were forced to slow down, meeting the second barrage of arrows.

"This is the last damn time I'm the bait." Richard sighed, exhausted, running behind the archers to regain his breath. "How's the plan going?"

"They're dying left and right." Nuri answered, looking over the archers. "Wait... They're retreating."

"Push them back!" A soldier yelled, with everyone now chasing the monsters who ran out of the reach of the arrows. "Salamander, Richard, move it!"

"Oh fucking hell..." Richard muttered, starting to run again with the soldiers, jumping over the corpses on the ground and moving around those stuck on the stakes.

It wasn't long until they reached the giant lit room of the cave, the one Ryada spoke about earlier. The archers took the opportunity to shoot the monsters in the back as they retreated, for the room had no cover at all. By the time the surviving monsters reached the passage at the opposite side, the room had corpses scattered along a line with blood running down their backs. The men kept pushing into the passage with their bows ready, unable to know what to expect further ahead. Unfortunately, the passage was too narrow and dark for them, forcing them to take out their mallets and slow down to avoid a sudden ambush.

"Richard, take lead." One of the soldiers ordered.

"What? Why?"

"You're the only one here who has armor. And shield too."

"Right... Ugh."

Richard took the lead and moved through the passage, taking out his shield and sword.

After a short distance, they reached another lit room of the cave. This time, they could see as they entered the room the men that were captured. Almost a hundred, all tied by their hands and legs, immobilized. As they kept walking, they saw in another part of the room the remaining monsters ready to make their last stand, all grouped together in a corner.

"Tsk..." A voice from behind the monsters spoke up. "So few men causing so many problems."

The line of monsters divided, allowing a strange lamia to move forward among them. A rattlesnake.

"Did that traitorous salamander tell you of this place...?" She questioned.

"You're the one behind this?" Richard asked back.

"Are you retarded or something?"

"...What?"

"I assumed your kind would be smarter than that. After all, they repelled my attack. Brute force is the only thing you humans are good at. Bah, not even that, not even five humans are match to a monster."

"And you attacked Sabasa because...?"

"Do I look like I have to answer your stupid questions?"

Richard started to get annoyed at her words.

"That really depends on how you view this situation." He retorted, annoyed. "There are two possible outcomes. Either I have your answers, or your decapitated head as a trophy."

"Was that a pathetic attempt at intimidation?"

"Who spoke of 'intimidation'?" He said as he aimed his sword at her. "I have no reasons to let you go alive. I'm simply giving you an alternative."

"There is a flaw in your argument."

"And that is...?"

"You Sabasans are useless without your bows. Even if you manage to fight against a monster on your own, the rest of your men will die almost immediately. Then you'll end up fighting outnumbered and alone."

Richard knew that her words held truth. If both sides were to fight, he and the others would die. The soldiers outside would send more men to kill the monsters, but by the time they decide to send another wave due to the others not returning, the prisoners would've been killed already. A straight fight would be suicidal for them in this case, he had to come up with something else. The monsters could not escape anyways, so he had to avoid the worst possible outcome.

"True, true. Still, you'd all die by the others outside."

"Hm? You brought more men?"

"Thousands of horse archers blocking the entrance." He stated, purposefully exaggerating the number. "Even if we die, the others would arrive and kill you all."

"So you and your men don't care about the prisoners? It's quite obvious we'll kill them if you try anything."

"Our main goal is killing all of you. You're forcing us to take this course of action, since if we let you all go in exchange of the prisoners we'd be losing in the long run."

"I admire the willingness of humanity to throw themselves to their deaths. Still, that mentality is idiotic at best."

The soldiers were exhausted, shaking of adrenaline and expectation. The monsters were no different, frightened against a corner knowing their death would arrive.

"Tell me, how courageous are you...?" Richard questioned with an idea in his mind.

"I'd have to say I'd rather not throw myself in death's way, if that's your definition of courage."

"Then you'll be interested in what I have to propose."

"Let me guess, a duel?"

"Of course."

"You are so predictable it's painful. What will it be?"

"You and I will-"

"Cut to the point."

"You're a cunt."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"Tsk, anyways. You, me, duel to the death. I win, I'll let those monsters leave peacefully with their lives, the men are freed, everyone goes home, yadda yadda..."

"What makes you think the monsters would accept that?"

"Well, let's put it this way. We can't let them go so easily for obvious reasons. So, we give them the opportunity to return with us with their lives and make themselves useful. The other option is a steel hammer rammed against their faces repeatedly until they die."

"...Richard, I don't know if that's even possible." A soldier whispered.

"Shut up, the king gave amnesty to the other monsters, you're telling me I can't?" He whispered back.

The monsters overheard Richard's words, making them stare at each other in confusion.

"The humans in Sabasa will kill them for revenge as soon as they see them." The rattlesnake stated.

"You stupid snake, we're not going to let them walk around the damn city to get killed. Of course they'll be protected."

"Ugh. Moving on. I win, what happens?"

"You're probably going to kill all of us. I don't know, I'll be dead before I know."

"And why should I accept this duel instead of killing all of you this instant?"

"Because- Uhh... Well..."

"Hm?"

"You didn't even think of that...?"

"You shut up while I'm thinking. Anyways. Uhhh... Ah. I'm a swordsman from San Ilia. If you win, you'd have killed the only armored soldier in Sabasa who knows how to fight in this closed enviroment. You'd have a great advantage should that happen."

"Convincing... Anything else?"

Richard simply shrugged.

"...Nothing?" She questioned, slithering towards Richard. "I see, then."

Seeing her moving closer, Richard took stance with his sword and shield. The sudden fright of realizing just how tall the rattlesnake was from up close made him take a step back, leaving him with a feeling of committing a grave mistake in challenging her.

The rattlesnake stopped right in front of him, staring with her narrowed eyes. She raised her head and closed her eyes, as if she was looking at the sky blocked by the cave's ceiling.

"Gnomaren..." She muttered in a tone low enough for Richard to barely understand what she said. Then, her stare returned to Richard. Before even letting him do anything, she swung her tail at his feet with enough strength to send him against the ground, impacting with his back.

"You're pathetic, you know that?" She taunted, crossing her arms.

"...And all your monsters died against the likes of me." He retorted, swinging his sword at her lower half while standing up, only to be parried by her tail.

Immediately thereafter, she brought down her tail on Richard's head, causing him to plummet once more into the ground, this time giving him a concussion. She grabbed his leg and swung it up and down, throwing Richard against the ground once more, causing him to cough and whimper of pain and lost breath. The soldiers' expression already gave away their certainty of his demise. With her tail, she grabbed Richard by his neck and raised him to her height, forcing him to stare at her while she stared back.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did you really think I'd lose that easily?" She spoke with a bloodthirsty smile. "You seem to forget I led ten giants and a thousand monsters."

With great force, she threw him against the cave's wall. The impact followed by falling onto the ground left Richard unable to bring himself up again. The pain was far too much for him to cope with despite the adrenaline in his blood. He could do nothing while the rattlesnake slithered up to him.

"Still..." She said in a low tone while tying him up with her tail, making him drop his shield and sword and immobilizing him completely while bringing him up to her. "I thought you'd be far stronger than that. Am I that strong that no human is a match for me?"

Richard did nothing, just stare at her. He was incapable of doing anything else, his pain prevented him from even talking.

"Hm~ You know how you said this fight would be to the death...? I think I'll keep you alive. After all..."

She raised her hands at his helmet and slowly raised his visor, despite his struggling to prevent it.

"...It's not like you're in a position to object~."

She moved her face closer to his while at the same time licking her lips. Closer and closer, she began to slightly open her mouth with her tongue moving towards his, unable to do anything to prevent what she'd do. The long, divided mouth characteristic of lamias which moved nearer to him.

Richard, knowing that fighting it wasn't going to achieve anything, remained still for her. The rattlesnake assumed he gave in to his lust, wishing to fight no more. She simply moved in until they were almost kissing. Richard, however, took the opportunity and opened his mouth and moved his face forward, not to kiss, but to bite the rattlesnake's tongue as a desperate attempt to keep fighting.

The rattlesnake gave out a loud scream of pain, trying to break free of Richard's teeth. She tightened her grip on his body, causing him even more pain than before and making him scream, letting go of her.

"You damn worthless..." She muttered, tightening further her grip to the point Richard's chain mail below his surcoat could be heard clanking, almost drowned by his screams. "I'd kill you this instant, but I know very well now that you'd rather be killed than becoming my slave... Tough luck for you, San Ilian..."

The rattlesnake's grip became tighter and tighter. Richard started to lose feeling on his limbs and becoming light-headed, but still not giving in to the pain. He tried reaching for his dagger which was on his belt, his immobilized hand fairly close to it to try such option. He could not fully reach it, only grasp it with his fingers, forcing him to try taking it out of his sheath with them and moving it closer to his palm despite the grip's pain and restriction.

"Come on..." The rattlesnake taunted, laughing maniacally. "Say it. Say it and I'll stop... Say that you give up! Say that you want to become my slave for eternity and the pain will stop!"

After much struggling, Richard managed to grip the dagger in his palm. Unfortunately, the rattlesnake's tight grip didn't even allow him to use it, for there was no space to move it. He could not cut or stab part of the tail to free himself, so he came up with another solution. He tried speaking, his speech understandably rendered unintelligible due to his lungs being crushed and the pain preventing him.

"Oh, what's that?" The rattlesnake questioned, loosening her grip on Richard.

He was left panting and exhausted, barely managing to breathe properly.

"Come on, I want to hear it~."

Upon recovering enough to move, he tried testing to find out if he could move his dagger properly. The grip was loose enough for him to barely move his limbs, slowly regaining the feeling on them. Thus, he was certain he could give it a go.

"Well~?" She pressured him, her face right in front of his.

"...Riddle me this." He stated, ramming his dagger against a section of her tail.

Her sudden scream unnerved those around, monsters and humans alike. Instinctively, she tried to stop the pain by twisting her tail and trying to let go of him, but as soon as her grip loosened enough, he twisted his dagger and slashed upwards, cutting through her tail several times in a single slash leaving a trail of blood following his dagger through the air. Unfortunately, he was shot into the same wall as before by her tail's reflex. The damage he caused was merely superficial, but it was enough for him to be freed. The impact against the wall was enough to close his visor once more.

"You damned bastard...!" The rattlesnake screamed with excruciating pain, barely able to move her tail due to the tremendous pain it created.

Richard, with an adrenaline rush caused by the sudden opportunity of taking vengeance on what he did to him, grabbed his sword lying next to him and rushed at the snake who was writhing on the ground in pain, almost tripping on the way due to his exhaustion. He had left his shield on the ground so as not to be encumbered.

The rattlesnake was far more preoccupied by her wounds than his victim to notice how he stood up and charged at her. After gathering speed, he jumped at her and rammed his sword against her tail, digging through her flesh and striking against the ground. No matter how much she desperately twisted her tail, it was stuck. She had lost her strongest asset.

Without delay, he let go of his sword and struck the rattlesnake's head with his gauntlet, followed by another strike to the stomach and finally jumping on her to pin her down. All that followed was him repeatedly punching her to the point where blood was flowing out of her nose and mouth, with her eyes almost shut due to the wounds. Even her bones were be broken by the strength of his punches added to the steel surface of his gauntlets.

"How do you like that!? Doesn't feel so good to be the one dying, does it?!" He screamed at her, furious, choking her with both his hands. All she could do was grip his arms with her failing strength, unable to fight back.

"...What are you going to do now?" The rattlesnake questioned, taunting, barely able to speak while violently coughing up blood. "Kill me? Come on! Kill me!"

Richard moved his hands from her neck to the sides of her head, raised it and smashed her head against the ground.

"Shut the fuck up!" He yelled at her. "I want answers, and you're going to answer them! Why did you attack Sabasa?!"

"Eat shit."

He proceeded to strike her head against the ground once again.

"Why did you attack Sabasa?!" He yelled even louder.

"...I was ordered." She muttered. Now even her fortitude failed.

"By who!?"

"B-...Black Alice."

"...Who?"

"You deaf little shit-"

The back of her head striking against the rocky floor of the cave kept echoing around.

"Who is Black Alice?!"

"S-she promised... Us... Everything we've wanted..."

After finishing her explanation, the rattlesnake let go of one of Richard's arm and struck the ground with her fist. Then once more. Over and over again, rhythmically, leaving Richard and the rest confused. The final strike before she stopped, however, was made with an open palm, leaving her with a wide, bloodied smile.

"...What was that?" He questioned.

Her silence slowly turned into a maniacal laughter. This unnerved Richard far more than before. He raised his fist and struck her in her cheek, causing her head to recoil to the side.

"What the fuck was that?!"

"You are... All..." She muttered, still laughing. "You are all going to die! Ahahaha! You will all die, even those outside! Nothing can save you- AAAAAAAHHH!"

Her speech was interrupted by Richard, who, already on the edge, rammed both his thumbs into her eyes out of pure rage. The rattlesnake could do nothing but scream and desperately try to break free, but ultimately failed as her strength depleted, along with her life, once her arms dropped to the ground.

He was left panting, taking out his blood-covered thumbs from her eyes. He stood up and walked towards the sword stuck in her tail. With great effort and a loud grunt, he took out the now bloodied sword from her tail. The sword was covered in blood, both blade and hilt, dripping onto the floor.

"You fucking bastards want more?!" He yelled at the monsters, lifting both his arms to his sides. "Come on! I'm still alive! Who's next?!"

"Richard, Richard!" A soldier desperately tried explaining to him, painfully aware his anger was taking the best of him. "They're not going to fight, they gave up! You won, calm down for the love of Ilias!"

"Richard... Are you okay?" Nuri questioned while walking up to him, worried.

"Y-yeah... I'm okay... I'm just- Just... I don't know. I'm alright." He muttered, sheathing his sword and walking up to his shield which lied on the ground. After picking it up, he stared around looking for Ryada. "...Ryada?" He called out. No response. "Anyone seen Ryada?"

"The rat girl? Haven't seen her since the chase."

"N-Nuri, where's Ryada?" He questioned, despair sinking into him.

Nuri simply shrugged, unknowing.

"...Shit. Ryada! Ryada where are you!?" He yelled around. Still no response. "...Don't you lot just stand there! Help me find her!" He yelled at the soldiers.

At his command, the soldiers scrambled throughout the cave to look for the rat girl while others interrogated the monsters and freed the men. He would have ran to look for her, but his exhaustion and muscle pain prevented him from even standing up properly, forcing him to sit against a wall. Unable to even look for her, the thoughts began flooding his mind of what could have happened to Ryada. Nothing good entered his mind, for she didn't even answer his call.

"...Uhhh... Richard!" A soldier yelled.

"What?! Did you find her?!" He yelled back, quickly standing up and rushing to where he heard the voice. The speed at which he was called left him unnerved. Even more the fact that it wasn't that far from where he currently was, it wasn't even in the other giant room, just the passage in-between.

"Richard, over here." The soldier called for Richard once he saw him running.

"Where is her?!" He asked, running at him.

"Uhh..." The soldier muttered, speechless, pointing at a monster's body on the ground against a wall.

"No..." Richard muttered to himself, already assuming the worst judging by how the soldier was simply pointing at a monster's corpse, speechless, and that he didn't see Ryada yet. He thought that if she was found, she'd be carried - or at least walking - to where they were. "No... No no no no! Not her!" His lament become progressively louder as he got closer. "Tell me she's not- What."

There she was. Ryada, covered in blood that wasn't hers over the corpse of a monster. She was over the back of the neck of a jackal girl, biting through her flesh and eating. Nuri shared Richard's reaction of utter, stupefying shock once she arrived at the scene. Even more unnerving, once Ryada noticed that Richard, Nuri and a soldier were watching her, she innocently turned her head towards them and smiled, unaware that her blood-covered teeth, mouth and hair horrified them.

"I've heard about rats eating everything... This is just insane..." The soldier said in a low tone.

"...Was that thing dead already?" Nuri spoke, leaning back and pointing at the jackal girl who lied on the floor. "When she started... Eating, I mean."

"Well..." The soldier started talking while crouching next to the jackal and inspecting her body. "...She got this far, so she probably bled to death from the arrow on her back if it-" His inspection was abruptly interrupted once his eyes met with the jackal's, whose eyes suddenly moved and stared back at him. The sudden event was enough to make the soldier jump back in fright, screaming, and landing on his back on the ground, subsequently crawling back to the wall on the opposite side of the passage. Even Nuri and Richard shared the fright, recoiling back in fear. "-What the fuck!?"

"Ilias dammit that thing's alive!" Richard yelled.

"R-Ryada, what the hell happened?!" Nuri desperately asked.

"Oh?" Ryada spoke up, not noticing a drop of blood ran down her jaw. "I saw a monster walking towards the rest of the soldiers, so I climbed the wall, snuck up on it and bit her spine. That paralyzed her."

"And you're eating her alive?!"

"...On my defence, I didn't know she was still alive. Well... I thought she'd die faster."

"What, you people think I haven't spilt my fair share of blood in my life?" She questioned, laughing. "The Forest of Spirits isn't exactly the safest place to be around."

Ryada extended her arms at Nuri for her to pick her up, unaware that anything she did was enough to scare anyone due to the blood that ran down her.

"...Okay, I'm now starting to regret insulting you." Nuri spoke in a low tone, extending her hand for Ryada to climb to her shoulder.

"Tsk, don't worry about it. They're just words after all." Ryada giggled, climbing onto her shoulder.

"T-Thanks-"

"I don't sleep when you do." She whispered to her ear.

Nuri remained speechless, on the verge of tears out of fear.

"Everyone's ready, we can go now." A soldier who arrived informed them.

"Finally..." Richard sighed. "I don't want to stay in this damn place any longer."

"Hey- Hey!" A soldier yelled, running towards Richard and the rest. "We need to get out of here, now!"

"What? Wh-"

Before Richard could finish asking, the cave shook with the intensity of an earthquake, with the dust gathered on the top of the cave falling onto the soldiers.

"What was that?!" Another soldier asked violently.

"I'll explain later, get out of here!" The other soldier answered, legging it. The other soldiers, freed men and monsters followed in running away. Richard and Nuri followed last, still confused.

* * *

Once they got out of the cave, they were greeted by the sight of the soldiers trying to control their horses, startled by the violent earthquake.

"You guys, what happened!?" One of the mounted soldiers questioned.

"Everyone, get to the horses!" A dismounted soldier yelled at the others while running to the mounted soldier. "Get everyone on them, I don't care how many have to be on top of one!"

"Well?" The mounted soldier kept pressuring him, manning the reins of his horse to keep it controlled.

"We have a problem, it's the giant-"

"The giant?!" Richard violently asked, arriving on his horse.

"I don't see any giants around." The mounted soldier remarked.

"Because it's not a surface giant." The dismounted soldier explained, mounting a horse that was brought to him. "That damned giant is a Sand Worm, it's underground, it was here all along according to the monsters we captured. We need to get out of here, now."

Just at that time, a loud roar could be heard echoing in the skies, sending a shiver down everyone's spine to the point they were frozen solid out of fear. The roar was loud enough for its vibration to be felt, horrifying those outside.

"I don't think that's a sand worm..." Nuri remarked, arriving on her horse with Ryada on her shoulder and Richard besides her on another horse. "I think it's something far bigger..."

"Fuck if I want to find out! Everyone, move it! Double time!" The soldier screamed his order, commanding the rest to gallop to Sabasa.

Without delay, everyone gathered speed and begun the retreat.

"Sand Worm... If it's a sand worm..." Richard muttered to himself, losing composure while away. "Underground... They hear vibrations... Shit, that rattlesnake was calling it. And- WOAHH!"

The earthquake became more violent as time passed, almost throwing Richard off-balance with the horse stopping on its tracks to avoid falling on itself. The others experienced the same difficulty in maintaining themselves on balance while galloping, forcing them to stop. The earthquake rendered the retreat pointless, for it brought them to a halt.

"It's following us!" A soldier yelled, realizing that the intensity of the earthquake was directly tied to proximity.

"We can't run, scatter!" Another soldier ordered.

The earthquake's intensity increased and increased ever more violent, raising the sand with the shaking until a small cloud of sand covered the ground. Such was the power of the earthquake that it managed to cause Richard to lose control of the horse, leading to it going wild and throwing him onto the sand before running away.

"This is the second fucking time a horse abandons me in a time like this!" He ranted, desperately trying to get up by placing his hands against the sand.

However, before he could even push himself up, in the distance behind him a thundering sound broke through the wind, followed immediately by the even louder monstrous howl, loud enough to leave Richard stunned in his place, unable to comprehend the situation. He turned around to see what was the source of the heart-splitting sound, met by the sight of a sand worm big enough to darken the skies, raining sand onto the ground after jumping from the earth.

"By... Heinrich..." He muttered to himself, shocked by the sand worm diving in the sky directly above him in an arc. It wasn't the kind of sandworm widely known in this continent either, it was another strain entirely. It was a sandworm which body, instead of being a gigantic half-worm half-woman monster, was entirely a worm protected by a rock-like armor, with three eyes on each side and a mouth which would only be seen in nightmares. Its length seemed eternal; even when it landed and dug itself into the sand again, its remaining body was still following its original movement through the air. "Wh-what... Was that...?" He could barely ask himself, now lying on the sand without strength. "They're not supposed to be that big..."

He slowly moved his hand until it laid over the stock of his crossbow, but saw how the giant sand worm's skin looked like it was made of rock. To pierce it would not be feasible, and even if possible, its skin would be too thick to do anything but piss it off. The only weak point of the monster would be its eyes, but the Sabasans had better chances of achieving such shot than him. He'd simply be another bolt in the sky, if he even had enough strength left to shoot more than a couple of bolts.

He sighed, letting his head impact against the sand and resting.

"I just... Give up."

He turned his head to the side, looking at how the sand worm once again jumped from the earth a dived into the skies, letting out a roar that pierced through his ears and echoed inside his helmet. A creature which armor prevented the Sabasan arrows from even denting, let alone pierce. More than a hundred archers shooting the worm to no avail.

Unable to do anything to help the horse archers, Richard simply laid on the sand, vigilant, now trying to remember what he knew about the sand worm's characteristics he learnt back in San Ilia. Unfortunately, the attacking sand worm was far bigger than the kind he knew about, thus leaving his knowledge questionable at best. For him, there were two kinds of sand worms: One that is half-woman, and another who had a woman-like creature inside, the equivalent of the one being fought, although of a smaller size. The woman inside the sand worm would be protected by the skin, being the main body of the monster while the 'worm' being a mere shell, just big enough to accommodate it and a victim. Should the woman inside die, the worm would follow suit.

"...Oh come on..." He ranted, slowly standing up past the pain, upon realizing what would be an alternative.

In his mind, he'd have to destroy the woman inside the sand worm, despite not knowing if such thing even shared the characteristics of the sand worms he knew about. Still, something in him simply forced him to act, despite already wanting to give up.

He knew that sand worms saw the world by vibrations due to being underground creatures. He also knew that simply walking around and stomping on the ground would do nothing, there were more than a hundred horses galloping around already, but still had in his mind how the rattlesnake called for the sandworm just by striking against the ground in a predictable manner. That was his only clue on how to get the sand worm's attention, and so, decided to test it. With the rattlesnake in his mind, he drove his right foot onto the ground over and over again, making sure the timing was similar to the rattlesnake's. Over and over, he repeated his actions.

The effect was almost instant. When the sand worm dived into the earth once more, it no longer appeared. Still, the sand worm was by no means defeated or even driven away, for the rumbling remained with the same intensity as before. The sand worm was swimming through the sands below them, with the men unknowing of its intentions.

"Come on, you damned piece of..." Richard ranted under his breath, growing impatient and unnerved.

The atmosphere around him thickened with the uneasiness of the monster's unpredictability. Richard's eyes moved one side to the other staring at the horizon to see where the sand moved, unable to even figure out in which general direction the sand worm was. All he had at his disposal was the great vibration under his feet increasing and decreasing, as if the monster was just below him, circling around him.

"Why aren't you coming out?" He asked himself, wondering why the rattlesnake's method fulfilled just a fraction of its intended purpose. "The rattlesnake did the same thing... Why- ...Oh."

He remembered a certain detail he overlooked. The rattlesnake, finishing her strange 'ritual' to call forth the sand worm, had struck the earth with her open palm instead of a fist. Judging that he needed an equivalent, and that crouching on the ground to strike with an open palm would break the rhythm, he began taking out his shield while keeping up the pace at which he stepped on the sand. He held it in front of him with both his hands on its sides and its heraldry pointed below, meditating whether it'd work or not. Having no other alternative, he carefully positioned the shield so that it'd fall and create a percussion close enough to a palm striking against the sand, and so, let go of it.

The shield landed on its flat side, pushing a small cloud of dust aside and creating the kind of percussion Richard wished for. The earthquake caused by the sand worm had also abruptly ended as soon as the shield had struck, unnerving Richard even further with the sudden silence.

However, without letting him to get used to the silence, the earthquake returned with gradually far more intensity than before, right until the giant sand worm appeared from the earth in front of him. A giant creature whose size could not even be conceivable, or even thought of. The rumbling caused Richard to fall to the ground once more, speechless and frightened by the sand worm's appearance at such proximity, only being able to stare at how it rose to the skies with its seemingly infinite length without end. Richard knew the sand worm was going for him, and as such could not hold back the fear he experienced, desperately crawling back a short distance while stuttering on his own words.

The sand worm's head slowly descended towards Richard, placing itself onto the ground in front of him with its breath being felt and heard.

"B-breathing... That thing's b-breathing..." Richard struggled to say, on the verge of losing his composure and running away.

The sand worm's mouth slowly opened, letting out a stench that wasn't disgusting, but not unlike the smell of a stagnant pool of dead fish. A strange smell that was both comfortable and unnervingly awful at the same time, something Richard had never experience before, which added to his fear of this unknown event. Even worse for him, he could not see anything inside. He could not see the woman who, if a normal human-sized sand worm scaled to such size, would be big enough to be the only thing seen once its mouth opened. There was nothing, just a mouth, as if the sand worm was a creature by itself.

"...I should've stayed in San Ilia to be hanged..." Richard muttered, already losing it. "This was a mistake... This is how I die..."

His fear turned into slight hints of confusion, unknowing the reasons behind the sand worm's inactivity at this point. It just laid there with its mouth open at Richard, as if it was inviting him. For Richard, this made no sense, for the sand worm was already attacking the soldiers, him included; to land and simply expect him to get in, despite sand worms not having the greatest intelligence among monsters, was illogical.

A few seconds later, he could see something moving inside the sand worm's mouth. Something small compared to its size, something that looked human, walking towards him. Narrowing his eyes, he tried figuring out what it was. Immediately, he realized it was what he was looking for, although in an unexpected way. The humanoid figure walking in the sand worm's mouth looked like a woman with very long hair, with a pronounced figure that looked hand-crafted to have no flaws. Its body, even hair, was of a reddish-pink tone with hints of a strange, thick liquid running down it; it was a naked body made entirely out of exposed, bright flesh with a texture similar to a tongue, its hair included, but with seemingly no connection to the sand worm. Still not knowing what course of action to take, Richard quickly crawled forward and grabbed his shield, holding it with both hands over his chest, as if unconsciously believing it'd keep him safe. The only sign he had that'd give him a clue of what to do was the strange woman extending her arms towards him from afar.

"...Only chance I have." He muttered to himself, mustering what remained of his strength and courage to come up with an excuse that'd force him to move.

His eyes fixed on the woman, he slowly stood up and held his shield with his left hand. Afterwards, he began walking into the sand worm's mouth, shaking due to extreme fear. At this event, the woman smiled and stepped back a short distance, allowing Richard to step into the sand worm's mouth far enough for it to slowly close behind him. Strangely enough, despite lacking a light source, the sand worm's mouth was very well illuminated. Not only that, he could breath just as well as before despite being sealed away for fresh air. He noticed this, but decided that he had a greater priority than to find out why this anomaly was present.

He also realized that he could have died asphyxiated by not even taking such detail into consideration before entering, blaming his own stupidity for it.

The flesh woman now moved towards him with a smile and her arms extended, while he moved towards her too but with exhaustion instead. The closer they moved, the more her lack of connection to the sand worm became apparent. Normal sand worms would have the flesh woman connected by the waist to the worm directly, almost as if it was a tongue, but the woman in front of him had none. Not even a small vein. She was completely separate from the worm, the reasons unknown to him.

For him, it was time. The woman was already close enough for him and fascinated by him, which left him with the element of surprise. With a swift movement, he grabbed the hilt of his sheathed sword and swung it out of its sheath, using the momentum to drive the blade across her neck, decapitating her immediately and ending her life. This left Richard with a weird feeling, for her decapitation required far less strength than he had expected. The woman was made of flesh, and only that. The strength wasn't even comparable to muscle, thus, a swift movement killed her. Still, before he could even take such thing into consideration, the sand worm had let out a loud scream of pain that pierced his ears once again, violently shaking the place he was in, obviously now moving around and diving into the sand while he was inside. Despite the 'main body', the female, falling lifeless, the sandworm was still alive and moving without any signs of damage.

"What the fuck?!" He violently questioned, falling to the ground due to the extreme movements of the sand worm yet managing to drive his sword into its flesh to remain in place. "Why?! I killed it, I fucking killed it! Why is it still moving?!"

He desperately looked around the sand worm's cavernous body, trying to find something that'd give him a clue of what to do. Unfortunately, all that remained around him was just flesh and the teeth of the sand worm's closed mouth, with a dark flesh passage twisting at the opposite end. He could not escape through its mouth, and even if he could it'd mean his death, for he'd either escape when it's high above in the skies, when it's underground, or when it's diving into the ground. Figuring he had no more options, he pulled his sword out of the worm's mouth's flesh and allowed simple gravity and inertia to throw him into the passage that followed down the sand worm's length, yelling all the way as he slid through it.

"Worm, worm, worm..." He muttered to himself, sliding down the sand worm's cavity. "If that thing's a creature of its own, what do I do...? Worm... Earthworms have 5 hearts. I think. If it's the same, then..."

He looked around, thinking of his next course of action. The worm's cavernous passage narrowed more and more until it reached a point where it began widening again. Thanks to this strange formation, he could give himself a wild idea of where he was, assuming worm anatomy applied to the sand worm. If his assumptions were true, he was in the area close to the worm's pharynx, the next section containing the five hearts that would be beneath the worm's flesh. He would have to chop his way into each one to kill it, if it even works.

"...I guess I can-"

His inner monologue was interrupted by a strange sight. Directly in front of him, down the way he was sliding to, he could see movement. All over the cavernous passage there was movement, as if a horde of moving creatures made their way towards his way. In his confusion, he narrowed his eyes to try to decipher what those creatures were, focusing his sight despite the tremendous speed at which he slid down the worm's throat. Unfortunately for him, he found out what the creatures were with his eyes widening behind his visor:

The same kind of 'main body' he had killed, women made out of flesh without connection to the worm, hundreds of them climbing their way towards him.

"...Oh boy." He muttered, shocked, immediately driving his sword by a small fraction against the worm's flesh to slow his fall and not lose grip.

It seemed like the sand worm was diving into the skies once again, for it appeared that gravity had shifted, making it seem like instead of being a cavernous passage, it became an endless pit. Fortunately, it wasn't completely vertical, so his remaining strength was sufficient to keep him hanging. He had no intentions of fighting, their numbers seemed endless and would simply drain his strength that was required for his current objective. What's more, looking down the endless pit, the flesh seemed to contract further down the worm's cavity. If his thoughts did not deceive him, he was in the worm's esophagus, meaning that he accidentally passed the five hearts of the worm. All he needed to do was climb back up and strike the hearts beneath the flesh while avoiding the flesh bodies that now chased him, although at a crawling pace.

With his speed slow enough, he rammed the remainder of his sword into the flesh to fully stop his fall. After that, he quickly placed his shield onto his back his gauntlet's steel fingers into the monster's flesh wall, able to secure himself on it. His boots were also able to dent the flesh by a small margin, enough to add to his grip against the wall. Seeing as it'd simply slow him down, he pulled out his sword and sheathed it, then dug his now free hand's fingers against the wall. He took a hand's fingers out, pushed them higher, used his arms and legs to rise, placed his feet higher, took out his other hand's fingers, placed them higher, and so on until he reached the flesh where the first heart would be under. The only hint he had was a slightly different colour surrounding the heart, with the heart being a ring that went around the worm's body. The colour was slightly redder, as if the flesh had a hint of transparency revealing the blood vessel below, with the flesh forming a slight elevation due to the heart's blood flow.

Richard unsheathed his sword once more and, while clinging onto the wall with his other hand and feet, drove it into the wall. The effect was immediate, blood started gushing out of the wound past his sword, with enough pressure to make the task of pulling his sword out painfully easy. Further inspection of the wound revealed that he did not need to strike anymore, the incredible blood pressure was already tearing the wound apart, increasing the damage on its own. With only time having to worry about the wounded heart, he decided to sheath his sword and climb towards the second heart. The flesh women were getting closer due to the time it took him to wound the heart and the slow speed at which he climbed at, but were a fair distance away to make him not worry about such detail. For now.

By the time he reached the second heart, gravity had slightly shifted once more. Now climbing the wall was similar to moving up a steep hill instead of being a vertical surface. This allowed Richard to move faster, but also gave that advantage to the flesh that chased him. It became unclear for him if the sand worm was still in the air or if it was underground, the seemingly sourceless illumination inside the worm had no relation to the outside world. Ignoring such questions with trivial, if any, answer, he unsheathed his sword and drove it into the flesh where the second heart lied beneath. With better grip, he began cutting through the flesh like a knife to widen the wound. After he was done, he sheathed his sword and left the pressure handle the wound from then on, with him aiming for the third heart.

Gravity kept shifting. Now it became normal in relation to the flesh surface, giving him the luxury of being able to walk over it as if it was the earth. Still, the more advantages he had, the more advantages the flesh women also had. They moved faster and faster, forcing Richard to not waste time and rush for the third heart, sprinting as fast as his legs allowed.

He arrived, drifting over the flesh due to the blood leaving his boots with less grip, with his sword out and slicing through the heart's surface. He didn't even need to stop to cut through, just cutting as he drifted. Such a simple wound would allow the pressure to worsen it. Looking back, the blood was flowing out of the other two hearts like waterfalls. Such was the amount of blood pressure required to keep this beast alive.

Another gravity shift, although far more sudden. This time becoming slightly more vertical and making Richard slip over the blood and flesh, causing him to fall and slide down towards the remaining hearts. Fortunately, he managed to drive his sword into the flesh to stop himself from accumulating speed to the point he'd not be able to stop. Had he failed to do so, not only would he slide way past the hearts, the flesh women would have claimed them and he'd have to fight through them, which would have been impossible due to the disadvantageous terrain and numbers against him. Carefully, he started climbing down towards the fourth heart.

"What-" He muttered, feeling something grabbing him from his arm. He looked upwards, finding a flesh woman already pulling him towards her with a wicked smile on her face, with several dozen other flesh women behind her crawling towards him. Such was the fright, his heart skipped a beat and his veins started burning along with his skin due to the adrenaline rush. He pulled her arm at him in retaliation, causing the flesh woman to lose grip of the wall and fall down the worm's cavity. He let go of the wall and began sliding down it, staying vigilant for the fourth heart ring and, once finding it, slowing his fall down with his sword. He drove his sword into the flesh and cut through it until the blood started gushing like a stream. The time taken to do so, unfortunately for him, was far more than what he had available. The flesh women reached him and started pulling both his arms, his shield, his sword, every part of him. He could barely keep himself attached to the wall as gravity shifted, despite all efforts of fighting them back. As soon as he managed to throw one off him, another three arrived to take her place with seemingly endless numbers.

His skin could feel something warm. Something thick and warm, liquid, barely noticeable due to the amount of distractions he already had, but noticeable at last. It originated from above him, a thick red liquid that slowly made his hands and boots slippery by the minute. Trying to figure what it was, he looked at the wall to see blood running down it in gradually greater streams. It was then when he realized that blood had been gushing out the four hearts he had struck moments ago, back when he was climbing to a higher place to strike each one. But now, those wounds were far above him, gravity sending the blood towards him. He immediately realized that the blood that once was falling would return in a giant red wave, and so, decided to drive his sword into the wall as deeply as he could, bracing on it and enduring through the women's tries to dislodge him and make him fall to his death.

The flesh women kept mauling him with pushes and pulls, all while their incessant, unnerving laughter kept echoing and drowning all sound. He could do nothing but wait for the red blood wave, sure of its arrival once he noticed the blood arrived in greater volume by the second.

The blood increased in volume to the point some fell on his face behind the visor and his hands disappeared beneath it. At such point, gravity shifted again to make the wall steeper. With it, the blood arrived in a huge wave, flooding the worm's cavernous cavity and pushing the unprepared flesh women aside into the depths while forcing Richard to use all his remaining strength just to remain in place. It covered him whole, forcing him to hold his breath yet a few drops managing to get into his throat, making him cough violently. His fingers became numb with all the strength applied to keep his grip over the slippery surface covered with blood.

After excruciatingly exhausting moments, the blood flow weakened with only the four hearts' bleeding being the source. The blood wave had included all the blood that built up, thus, he'd be able to operate in this enviroment, although very slowly. He could breathe normally again, despite his coughing. All that remained was the fifth heart. He was not sure if striking against four of the hearts was already enough, but he had no reasons to avoid the fifth one in such situation. He couldn't even escape anyways.

Trying to dig his fingers into the flesh had no effect now, the blood was too thick and the flesh too soft to pierce with his fingers alone. He reached his left hand to his belt and took out his dagger from its sheath, then dug it into the flesh wall. It seemed to worked as it was intended to, thus, Richard began climbing down the wall to reach the fifth heart.

It was the same as with the first heart, the only small differences were that this time he was climbing down instead of upwards, that there were no flesh women chasing him, and that he was being showered with the blood of a giant worm that could sink entire cities if it wanted to. Once reaching the heart, he pulled his sword from the flesh and stabbed the vein. The pressure eased the effort of pulling the sword out while tearing apart the skin covering the heart.

"It's over..." He whispered to himself, seeing the blood rushing down the completely vertical wall, hanging from the hilt of his sword. "It's done..."

His joy changed to sudden fright once he felt his sword giving in, slowly sliding out of the wound. Giving out a loud breath, he quickly hammered the hilt of his sword to keep it dug in place.

Another gravity shift. A tremendously violent one, which almost threw him off the wall and barely managed to not dislocate his arm once things turned literally upside down. What once was below him as an endless pit now became a cylindrical flesh room without ceiling. It seemed as if the sand worm had desperately dived into the sky in a completely vertical way.

The giant blood wave that built up soon followed, striking at him as he desperately braced, not dislodging him from his place but preventing him for breathing. Without being able to do anything, he could see the lifeless corpse of a flesh woman being shot towards him, striking against him and dislodging him from the wall, making him be thrown against the flow of blood.

Yet another gravity shift, this time throwing him against the wall itself, as if the sand worm began diving sideways or, more logically, stalling and falling. He could not breathe, his sight was darkening and his body losing feeling. He could barely keep his thoughts alive, his head felt like it was being crushed against itself. He could not feel pain, he could not hear noise, his could not think, and he felt like he was drowning and falling asleep.

Another shift, although not exactly of gravity. What little he felt was him being shot away from the wall of flesh with the blood flow and flesh corpses. He no longer knew what was happening, nor why exactly was he there to begin with. All he could see was light at the end of a tunnel, a strange light that blinded his eyes but drew him towards it, although with no way to move. All that moved him towards the light was the blood flow, but he could not see what it was, for he lost consciousness shortly afterwards.

* * *

Pressure. He could feel pressure and his eyes burning, unable to open them. Something was striking against his chest, but his thoughts immediately shifted to his throat that was blocked. He began coughing out of reflex, coughing a strange liquid that was far thicker than water, barely able to breathe.

"Richard!" He could faintly hear beyond his ears, incapable of even wondering why the sound was so muffled and far away. "Richard, you're alive! Richard, cough! Cough!" He kept hearing, with something still striking against his chest.

"...Wh...What...? What is... When..." Richard barely managed to mutter past the blood in his throat, right after coughing what seemed to be a never-ending stream. "I... Ugh..."

"Richard, can you hear me? Come on, you're awake, you can't die now." He kept hearing while feeling his head being forcibly raised.

He began opening his eyes with as much force as he could muster in his state, unaware of his surroundings or events that happened. For him, it felt like waking up in the earliest morning, made even more similar by his eyes burning as soon as he opened them by a small margin.

"Let me... Sleep..." He spoke, exhausted.

"Richard, come on!" He heard another voice.

"Piss off..." He retorted. "I just... Uh..."

His eyes, after several tries of opening them, finally got used to the light just enough for them not to burn with a painful intensity. The greatest extent at which he could open them was just narrow enough to see the silhouettes of those directly in front of him. Namely Ryada, who was in front of his visor, and Nuri, who kneeled besides him holding his head.

"What... Why are you... Why are we... Sand... Outside..." He questioned, muttering and regaining full consciousness. He moved his eyes around to see what was happening, finding hundreds of soldiers surrounding him, and eventually realizing he was literally covered head to feet in blood. "Did... Dream happen...? Did I..." He questioned to himself, turning his head to the side and finding that there was a giant pool of blood over the sand that extended for a great distance. Right at the edge of the pool of blood laid a giant, lifeless sand worm with its mouth wide open and drenched in blood, with the corpses of the flesh women scattered around the desert. "Oh..." He began realizing while recovering his senses. "...Uuuugh! Dammit!" He ranted, still coughing violently. "Why?! Agh, this is disgusting! I'm coughing up blood that isn't even mine!"

Surrounding him still stood the soldiers, seemingly speechless, just staring in awe at him. Ryada and Nuri didn't share their shock, instead, they were joyful that Richard recovered completely in such a short time span.

"Aaaaah I'm gonna have to use fire to clean this filth..." Richard kept ranting, with his words only matched by his coughing. "This is the kind of shit I have to pull through? If Ilias doesn't turn me into a patron saint or something... I swear..."

"R-Richard." One of the soldiers called for him.

"What?!" He questioned violently, taking out his gauntlet and emptying the blood onto the floor. His violent question, added to killing a giant sand worm on his own, only served to scare the soldier further.

"J-just... How... What... Just what did you... Do?" The soldier asked. The other soldiers seemed to have the same question, yet being far too shocked to even dare ask.

"Aaaghh I don't know where to even begin... Just... Just get me out of here."

* * *

It wasn't until after hours of marching that Richard and the men, followed by the imprisoned monsters, arrived to Sabasa. They were marching through the abandoned and destroyed districts with the sun hidden behind the horizon, with the darkness of dusk surrounding them while being able to see well all around. Not only that, they were also guided by the contrasting light of the populated areas of Sabasa, lit by the torches of those still awake.

For obvious reasons, Nuri and Ryada were on a different horse than Richard.

They moved past the abandoned houses and the crumbled buildings through the sandy streets, now far colder than in the day and the sand slightly shining with the dim light of the sky. Richard looked around the desolated ruins to the horizon, simply out of slight boredom, finding the great building he once climbed to its roof. He was nearby the last skirmish he had with the desert monsters, where he met Nuri. He snickered once he remembered the amusing way the lizard girl he shot fell to the streets from the rooftops not long ago.

His focus shifted from his surroundings to that directly in front of him. In the distance he could see the lights of Sabasa, knowing they were close already, but the closer they got the more people seemed to gather.

"Looks like they saw us." A soldier remarked. "Hah, I got an idea."

The soldier manned the reins of his horse and galloped forwards to the groups that gathered, all the while the rest of the formation simply kept walking at a slow pace, ignoring him. Richard could see how the soldier arrived and extended his hands, talking loudly yet incomprehensible at such great distance. The only clue he had about the topic he announced was the fact that the crowd seemed to cheer and increase in size, with people rushing out of their homes and yelling with enthusiasm to spread the word.

"One has to wonder what he said." Richard spoke, stopping with the rest in front of the crowd.

"Not that hard to guess." One of the soldiers stated before turning to the men who were rescued. "Home sweet home, am I right?"

His words were understood, with the men immediately dismounting and walking to the crowd. Hundreds of men who were met with cheers and tears of joy, families reunited once more despite the horrors that were endured.

"Good. Now, to get this blood off my thro-" Richard stated, but ultimately interrupted by a young woman who walked towards him and the soldiers.

"Excuse me, I can't find my husband... Is he with you?"

"I'm sorry ma'am." One of the soldiers explained. "Everyone's in that crowd. You should look there."

"No, he's not there. I looked but... He's..."

Her words faltered and came to a stop as her head lowered. No soldier wanted to talk either, knowing very well what may have happened, for the ones they rescued were the only ones alive.

"...I understand." The woman continued, turning her head towards the people who cheered after being reunited.

"You have our condolences." The soldier stated.

"It's alright. At least... At least he had the chance to defend his beliefs..."

"Was he a soldier?"

"No. A conscript. He took a bow and joined the soldiers while letting me escape... Still, I'm happy that others can be happy. At least it wasn't in vain."

As they all looked at the crowd that remained, another man arrived to them. One of the men that was saved, but with confusion in his expression.

"Yes?" Richard questioned.

"I can't find my brother."

"Who is he?"

"Well... He's a blacksmith around these parts. I don't know where he is since I lived in the outer regions. Didn't really come here that often, plus this experience left my mind numb."

"Well- Wait... Wait, so you're... The brother of a blacksmith, and you lived in the outer regions?"

"Yes."

"I think... Yes that might be him." He stated with a hint of certainty. "I can take you there, mount up- On second thought... Just... Follow on foot. Ryada, Nuri, wait for me at the inn, I'll have a drink there anyways."

"Alright, hubby!" Nuri bid him farewell.

"...Hubby?" Ryada questioned with a smile, the kind of unnerving smile that showed anything but happiness.

"Uhhh... He he he..." Nuri gave a forced laugh, knowing very well that Ryada had more ability than she thought before. This, obviously, scared her, along with the fact that when she slept, Ryada did not.

* * *

Richard and his companion arrived at the blacksmith's shop at last. Richard, still covered in now slightly dried blood, dismounted from his horse and walked to the front of the shop. He pushed the door ringing the bell at the top and walked inside, with his companion following.

"Welcome." The blacksmith, who was nowhere in sight, greeted. He walked through the doorway leading to the back of the shop, cleaning his hands with a cloth. "If you see anything you like- Richard?" He questioned, surprised by seeing him covered in half dried blood. "Good to see you're alive, but what happ- ...Jackson?!" He exclaimed, his focus shifting to the man right next to him.

"Hello, brother."

"Jackson!" The blacksmith exclaimed joyfully, now rushing at him and embracing him in his arms with enough strength to lift him from the floor. "Jackson, I thought you were dead!"

"Agh..." The blacksmith's brother grunted. "If you keep crushing my ribs, I will be."

"Hah, not even an army of monsters can get you!" He spoke, letting him step onto the ground once more. "Richard, listen, how can I ever repay you for this?"

"What?" Richard questioned in a jokingly manner. "Did you forget already? This is how I repay you for all that you've done for me."

"Not even that is enough for you! I'd give you my entire shop- Well, for obvious reasons I can't... You can have anything you see! Anything!"

"Even if I wanted to accept that offer, anything more than what I currently have would simply burden me. Anyways, I'll go have a drink at the inn if you need anything else."

"What you've done this day already earned you a place in heaven, Richard." The blacksmith's brother stated. "Safe travels."

"Heartwarming to hear." Richard spoke back, waving at them while walking out the door.

"...Why was he covered in blood?" The blacksmith questioned.

"You're not going to believe what happened."

* * *

Richard arrived to the bar and opened the door, walking inside and thankful that he'd be able to enjoy a drink at last. Contrary to his expectations, once he walked inside he saw how the inn was completely crowded and noisy, with people getting drunk and cheering. He had forgotten people would most likely celebrate what happened today.

"-Who, despite her size, managed to drop a monster the size of a human!" He heard the voice of a woman announcing.

Wondering what that was about, he stared around to find the source of the announcement, finding it immediately once he noticed Nuri holding a mug in the air and finishing her sentence, with Ryada standing on her shoulder barely able to hold a mug of mead bigger than her. Afterwards, the group of soldiers who surrounded her raised their tankards into the air, cheering.

"Hey, the bastard arrived!" Another soldier yelled.

Richard didn't realize the bastard the soldier was talking about was him until everyone turned their heads towards him. At that point, all the eyes in the inn were focused on him, with the cheering intensifying by his sole presence.

"And now for Richard!" The same soldier announced to everyone, standing up and raising his tankard into the air. "The San Ilian who killed a giant Sand Worm on his own, all alone!"

"For Richard!" The inn shook with the sheer strength of everyone's voice, synchronized with the tankards and mugs of everyone present being raised.

However, while everyone cheered, there were others who remained skeptical and confused.

"Come Richard, join us! Tell us all what you went through!" The soldier invited him, leaving him a chair free.

"Fine..." Richard sighed, walking towards the chair with everyone's eyes fixed on him.

He reached the chair, sat on it and moved it slightly away, leaving him able to rest his legs on the table.

"...But first, hand me a drink. I've got blood that isn't mine in my throat, body, and sacred places."

"Here." The inn keeper, much to Richard's surprise, spoke while placing a mug of mead in front of him. "I'm not going to miss this story of yours."

"Well... Alright. Much appreciated." Richard thanked him right before grabbing the mug, opening his helmet's visor and chugging it down. Once he finished drinking, he placed the mug down and let out a sigh of relief. "Man I needed that. Uhh... So where do I start?"

"How did you come up with that plan?" One soldier questioned.

"Which one?"

"Walking right into that sand worm's mouth, that was suicidal!"

"Alright alright... Everyone here knows that there are two kinds of sand worms, right? One half-woman, and the other a woman in a worm's shell, right?"

Those around him affirmed it.

"Right. Anyways, that worm was of the second type, obviously, but the skin it had was armored, so to speak. It was like solid rock, so arrows couldn't pierce it. If Sabasan arrows couldn't pierce it, then nothing would, let's be honest here. So, I tried to find another way. Sand worms like those, if the woman inside is killed, they die too since the woman is the main body. What did I do? I grabbed its attention, walked in, and killed the woman inside. Surprisingly enough, it was human-sized. I had assumed it'd have been as big as the worm itself."

"That's how you killed the worm?"

"Were it so simple. No. The thing remained alive. I decapitated that woman inside and the worm remained alive. Even stranger, the woman had no connection whatsoever with the worm, but when I killed it, it felt pain. Don't ask me anything about it, I have no idea what was going on. Anyways, moving on, since I was left in the worm's mouth with no clear objective I decided to go deeper into it to see if I could figure something out. Then I found out that to kill that worm I had to cut its five hearts. Well, I didn't 'find out', more like I decided to try that without any clue of whether it'd work or not. I had no idea it had hearts like a normal worm to begin with."

Before he continued, he became distracted by the laughter of a great amount of citizens far at the corner of the inn.

"What are you guys laughing at?" One soldier questioned.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry-" One of the citizens said, choking on his own laughter. "-But seriously, a giant sand worm all on your own? Five hearts? I mean, seriously?"

"Do I fucking look like I'm lying?" Richard retorted, giving emphasis to the great amount of dried blood still on his armor and clothes.

Amusingly enough for the soldiers, the citizens had become silent.

"Richard, keep going." One of the soldiers told him.

"Right. Where was I? Ah yes, anyways, when I was trying to cut those five hearts... Which were more like rings instead of hearts, hundreds of the same kind of women appeared and started assaulting me. After a while the whole worm was flooding with blood, and since it was moving around, that blood sent me from one side to the other. I passed out, but I think it was when I was being shot out of the worm's mouth, since I saw some sort of light at the end of a tunnel. That, or I was dying. Ding dong the worm is dead."

After finishing, he grabbed his mug once more and started drinking again. The rest, knowing he had finished his story, started cheering at him again.

"Still," he continued. "Whatever that thing was, it wasn't a normal sand worm. Normal sand worms of that type aren't supposed to be that big. I've never heard of anything like it."

"Tell us about the cave!" A soldier yelled from afar.

"Understood. I'm assuming the rest of the soldiers already told most of the story there so I'll go straight to the point. I dueled with a rattlesnake but... The weird thing was that it was stronger than anything I had imagined. Mind you all, I fought a lot of lamias, so I generally know how strong they are, but this one? Whole new level. Another thing was that the rattlesnake said something before fighting me. Something... Well, I didn't even understand it back then."

"I think she said 'No morning'." A soldier said. "I was there with you, but that's the only thing I could understand."

"Yes, 'no morning', it sounds like that. Not really sure if there's anything else that sounds alike so I'll go with that. No idea why she said that. Anyways, we fought, I won, I interrogated her and she talked about a 'Black Alice'. Anyone knows anything about a 'Black Alice'?"

The atmosphere of the inn changed from a joyful one to one filled with confusion.

"Isn't 'Alice' the name of the Monster Lord?" One soldier questioned.

"How do you know that?" Another questioned him in turn.

"Well, one Monster Lord was called Alice, and I heard the same lineage was kept. No idea why 'Black', though."

"Wait, so you people are telling me the Monster Lord herself sent those things?!" Richard questioned violently.

"You should tell the king, Richard. He probably knows what to do with that."

"Pff, as if I'm going anywhere like this. I have to take a bath first."

He let out another sigh and started drinking again.

"How was it even possible to kill that sand worm?" Another soldier asked him, confused.

"That?" Richard questioned, slightly lowering his mug from his mouth. "That was easy." He answered, drinking again.

The inn erupted in laughter, breaking the confusion about Black Alice.

"Come on, man! Stop boasting already!" The soldier said, barely able to contain his laughter.

"I'm not boasting. It was easy. The only difficult thing was forcing myself to muster the courage to walk into that damned thing and do my job. After that, the only thing I need to do was to cut the five hearts. Any Sabasan would've been able to do it with a mere kitchen knife if you weren't so frightened. The hardest thing to do is to convince oneself to do something, the rest comes naturally."

"...Are you serious?"

"Why would I not be?"

"Well, it's not exactly easy to go past one's fear. It's understandable for fear to take hold of your mind in such situation, you could've died a horrible death, anyone could've died in ways unimaginable."

"Tough luck."

"That's what you thought when you entered that sand worm?"

"I knew very well the dangers. I just... Felt like it. I can't put it into words. If it was not me, it'd have been someone who had more to lose, who would've been forced to do so instead of going by his own will. I don't know. Worst case scenario, no one would have taken up the task and that sand worm would have... Killed everyone. Either way, I was dead anyways, might as well take the chance than give it up. Kind of surprised I'm alive too. Bottom line, we should not ignore our fears, but we should understand them and carry out our deeds knowing very well the dangers we'll go through, and the consequences of what we do or don't do."

"Okay, Richard, listen here." Yet another soldier started questioning while forcing himself through the crowd and slamming his hands over the table, right in front of him. "Everyone has been asking themselves this far too many times. Tell us, what training did you have in San Ilia? What did they maul you with?! You're not normal, that's for sure."

"I don't remember, nor do I feel like remembering."

"Oh come on!"

"...No, seriously, I genuinely can't remember. It feels like killing monsters for San Ilia was the only thing I've been doing in my life. Well, until they attempted to hang me. I can't even remember how I ended up in San Ilia's army, to be honest."

"Dammit, man..."

"That rattlesnake probably hit me hard enough to give me amnesia, hah."

* * *

'_Your efforts have not gone unnoticed, Richard_.' A distant voice echoed through his dreams.

"Wh-whu..." He questioned half asleep, suddenly waking up.


	6. Chapter 6: Pretender

Nuri and Ryada were on top of the roof of an abandoned building, crawling their way to the edge. Behind the building, the place they were crawling to, was Richard taking a bath in a giant tub. Nuri and Ryada were obviously aware of the implications, and decided to take the opportunity.

"Will he be able to see us?" Nuri asked Ryada.

"Well, from there... I don't think so. We're safe."

At her words, Nuri gave a small lustful laugh while moving to the edge and peeking at Richard. However, her laugh was cut short once she saw something that left her both surprised and disappointed.

"He's taking a bath with his armor on." She stated, annoyed and disappointed. "Even with his cloak."

"Why would he?" Ryada asked with the same emotions.

"Has he..." Nuri questioned moving away from the edge and staring at the sky in defeat. "Has he ever taken that armor off?"

"Would you be surprised if I tell you I've never seen him without it?" Ryada answered, turning away from the edge and staring at Nuri.

"...He has to take it off some time, he has to." Nuri stated, confident that an opportunity would present itself, all while moving once again to the edge of the roof and peeking at Richard. "...Huh? Where is he?"

"What? What happened?"

"He... Disappeared..."

"Really?"

Ryada moved to the edge and peeked at where Richard would be, seeing only a giant tub with water.

"Where did he..." Nuri questioned, staring around. "Hey, look over there." She told Ryada once she saw a small trail of water over the sand.

"If that was him, then where did..." Ryada questioned, with Nuri and her following the trail with her eyes. The only thing they saw was that it went into the building, nothing more.

"Where do you think he went to?" Nuri asked.

Almost immediately, she could feel something dropping over her head and creating an almost painful pressure. Only after the heart-splitting fright did she realize it was a hand, a gauntlet, petrifying her with fear.

Ryada was frozen solid on the verge of tears staring at the being that held Nuri, knowing very well that they not supposed to be there at such time.

Forcibly, Nuri's head was turned. Her sight met the steel visor of Richard, who managed to sneak up on them.

"What were you two doing...?" He asked in a quiet, calm voice, that only seemed to frighten them further.

* * *

A day later, Richard walked alone through the streets. He had nothing in mind, he was simply strolling around out of sheer boredom, just like before the attack in San Ilia. It was weird for him, having nothing to do after the amoun of tasks he had to carry out.

"Is that him?" A man, sitting on a table with four others, questioned upon seeing Richard walk past. "The one with the cloak and armor."

"Yes, that's him." Another one answered. "Richard Thomas... Whatever his name is. He's the one wanted in San Ilia."

"Are you all sure about this?" A third man asked to the rest. "He did kill a rattlesnake and a sandworm, you know. I'm not sure that we'd go up against him like this."

"Well, according to his story it was more luck than strength that got him through." The second man explained.

"He's getting away, let's hurry." A fourth one stated while standing up. "I'll go for his right arm, decide what to do and who knocks him out."

After him, everyone stood up and began moving towards Richard, with him unknowing.

It wasn't long until they caught up with him. The four men grabbed one of his limbs each, startling him. At this event, he desperately tried breaking off their grip to no avail, for they were in greater numbers and had more strength in their grip than he had in each of his limbs. The fifth man arrived with a rock, smashing it on Richard's helmet and knocking him out immediately with the power of the concussion given.

Immediately, they dragged Richard's unconscious body away before anyone noticed.

* * *

"Nnngggh... What..." Richard grunted, consciousness returning to him.

Slowly, he awakened and opened his eyes. Blinking and bearing the exhaustion of waking up, he could look around to see his surroundings. What he saw was a dark place with light sneaking through a few openings on what appeared to be a wall. It was inside a building, he realized. As he kept regaining his mind, he noticed that there were also several blurred silhouettes in the building, all with a cloak and hood that covered them, blending in the shadows due to Richard's eyes being forced to deal with the bright light that got through the windows.

"Who..." He questioned, unsure of what was happening, until the thought arrived to his head.

He was certain that there weren't many reasons for his kidnap. Only one, and that was being wanted dead in San Ilia.

"...Well I'm not dead, at least." He muttered to himself.

He tried moving, only to be restrained by the rope he was tied to the chair with.

"This is how I die."

One of the men stepped forward towards him, a giant man that blocked the light from the windows with his body, letting his eyes rest. He was, as with the rest, covered in a cloak with its hood on his head. It was impossible to know who he, or any of the others, were.

"Is it true that you have killed a rattlesnake and a giant sand worm?" The giant man calmly questioned.

Richard simply tilted his head aside in slight irritation.

"Oh for the love of..." He ranted. "Okay, I don't know what you people were told, but that was pure luck on my part. The rattlesnake almost killed me instatly but decided to 'keep me alive', so I killed her after feigning defeat. The sand worm couldn't even defend itself properly from inside, that's how I killed it. I'm not even that strong! I'm not Henrich, dammit!"

"...I see." The man in front of him stated with slight confusion and disappointment. "Then what about the salamander? Surely that was your skill that led you to victory."

"Again, no. That salamander was - well, how do I put it into words... She didn't really know how to fight defensively, so I used that against her. The poor thing probably never even fought a real swordsman, most likely she could only fight archers in close combat, and let's be honest, archers in close combat are pretty much done for before combat even begins. That's probably the reason she didn't learn how to fight that much."

"Hmm... Then what I heard was true. Technically. Richard, I have something to ask of you."

"What? Not to stain your fancy dress with blood after you decapitate me to show my head to Tallius?"

"What? No, I mean..."

The man sighed and rubbed the bridge of his eyes under his hood.

"Richard, we need your help."

"Help. Yeah, alright. Cool."

"...Really? You accept?"

"Yeah, why not? It's not like you and the others fucking crowned me with a rock and kidnapped me to Ilias knows where, right?! Of course I'll fucking help you! Why would I not?!"

"...There is no need for that amount of sarcasm."

"Oh, there is no need? Well excu-"

Richard was cut short by part of the roof of the abandoned building collapsing, showering those inside with a cloud of dust and sudden light. Fortunately for them, it was a section of roof nobody stood under, and the rest of the ceiling remained stable.

Over the pile of rubble, after the thick dust cleared itself, were Ryada and Nuri, hurting from the fall. Before they could do anything, four of the hooded men surrounded them with their spears ready.

"Ryada?! Nuri?! How did both of you get here?!" Richard questioned, still tied to his chair.

"Well..." Nuri explained, holding her arm in pain. "You were missing so Ryada and I decided to look for you..."

"Is that the salamander you talked about, Richard?" The giant man questioned.

"Yes, she is." He affirmed, only to realize something important. "-Hey, Nuri!"

"Yes?"

"...Did you hear anything from up there?"

"Yes, I did!" She answered, annoyed. "And don't forget that you're a real swordsman! So I'm now expecting some training from you!"

"This is how I die." He whispered to himself.

"I'm guessing you'll need more context to take a decision." The giant man stated, removing his hood and revealing his face to Richard.

"...King?!" He exclaimed. "What are you of all people doing here? Why was I kidnapped? What's going on? Wait, shouldn't you be in the castle? You could've simply called for me, you know."

"I already am in the castle, Richard. An impostor is, logically speaking."

Richard, Nuri and Ryada simply tilted their heads aside in confusion.

"I've heard you arrived early enough. Do you remember the vampires?"

"Yes, I remember decapitating one as soon as I arrived."

"Was that one also luck?"

"No. That was a weak vampire."

"Understandable. Seeing as that vampire was already outside, it was after I escaped."

"Escaped?"

"I'm explaining, Richard. In the beginning, the vampires infiltrated the castle. All of them. Once I discovered one, I had myself locked inside with them to fight them, I couldn't afford to let them escape. At the same time, I ordered one of my most trusted men to take command of the defences against the invadiing forces. Now that I see, he has succeeded, but at a great cost. I fought bravely inside the castle, but it was obvious I was losing. It wasn't until long that it became clear that I would die if things kept going that way... So I decided to escape through one of the windows. Unfortunate turn of events, I know, but I realized that my death in combat would solve nothing. Soon enough, the vampires followed and escaped the castle. They were hunting me down, but they failed to find me. On hindsight, it wasn't the smartest choice to lock myself in the castle, I could escape through the windows, meaning that had I died they'd have escaped anyways. Still, after I escaped, the Queen Vampire impersonated me. You must have seen her in disguise already."

"Wait, that does make some sense, but if the king in there is the impostor, why did he actually try to kill off the remaining monsters? Weren't they on the vampire queen's side? The 'impostor' even mustered the men to kill them. Even I was recruited."

"I can not read minds, but I can get a slight idea of a few reasons. Considering we're dealing with 'that' kind of monster... It could have been the vampire trying to convince everyone she was the real king. It could have also been her trying to finish off competitors for the power she'd have gotten. Perhaps both. It could have been the other way around, though, sending men to fight them but actually planning for them to get killed. Can you tell me of how your first mission went? She probably sent you due to your abilities as a San Ilian swordsman."

"Well... First mission I've gotten was heading to the outer parts of the city to deal with a raiding party. It was me and six others-"

"...Only six?"

"Only six."

"That's suicidal. I'd have mustered a hundred at least, just to be on the safe side. Go on."

"We were searching for the monsters after we heard something and saw footsteps. They led to a street and disappeared, so we followed to where they led. Ryada, luckily, heard them preparing an ambush on the roofs and we managed to retreat to fight them at a distance. In that mission I met Nuri."

"If it wasn't for Ryada, you'd have died with the rest. You owe her your life. Still, only six men..."

"After that, we captured the monsters and found out where a group of men were held. It was in a cave to the north. I was sent with around two hundred other-"

"Two hundred?"

"Yes."

"Too few."

"That was the most that could've been mustered."

"Richard, I don't think you understand how kingdoms work. I could've mustered more than five thousand conscripts in a second for such thing. Everyone knows how to use a bow, everyone can be a soldier in such situation."

"I see."

"The impostor was trying to get you and the men killed, that's for sure. So few men already guaranteed defeat. That cave must have been a trap too, to lead you there. How did you become victorious?"

"Me and a few men, around ten, reached the cave entrance first and killed those who kept watch. The rest arrived, we advanced while Ryada scouted ahead, and so on until we reached the end. We set up a trap with the stakes, I lured the group of monsters, they ran into the stakes... We pushed, reached the end, dueled the rattlesnake, I won... The rest surrendered. Surprisingly, we didn't lose any men. Then the sand worm thing happened. End of story."

"Fortune favors the bold. I hope this is enough proof that what I spoke of was the truth."

"No, it's not. For all I know you could be the 'Queen Vampire' trying to deceive me."

One of the men handed the King a garlic, who immediately took a bite of.

"...Well I don't know if the Vampire Queen is immune to garlic, she could be for all I know!"

"Your skepticism is something to admire, although it borders annoyance in this case. I believe the 'king' trusts you enough to not feel threatened by your sudden presence. If you can, get a garlic close to him in any possible way. That might give you the proof you need."

"...I'll try."

The King waved his hand at two of the men, telling them to untie Richard. At his command, they rushed to him and cut the ropes, freeing him.

"Why the ropes, though?" Richard questioned, standing up.

"I had assumed that if you ultimately rejected our explanations you'd try to escape and warn the vampire. We couldn't afford that, so we had to play safe. I hope you understand. You're free to go now."

"...Thanks. I guess."

Richard walked to the door that was held open for him, with Nuri and Ryada rushing by his side once they were allowed to go too.

"Remember." The king spoke. "We'll move around, we'll not be in the same place. I trust you'll find a way to gain our attention once you return."

"I'll find a way." He replied, walking outside.

The door was closed behind him, leaving them to walk back home.

"How are you going to get to the King again?" Nuri spoke while walking besides Richard to the city.

"I've yet to tell him... Or her... About this 'Black Alice'. I have an excuse."

"I thought that detail was too important to wait this long."

"...Well, to be honest, I forgot entirely and remembered just now."

* * *

"Well met, Richard." One of the guards of the castle greeted him as he walked inside. "...Why are you eating a garlic?"

"What can I say?" He answered, taking another bite. "I liked the taste."

In reality, he was dangerously close to puking.

By virtue of simply being him, he kept walking unbothered by anyone until he reached the room right before the throne room itself. In there, two guards stood vigilant in front of the doors that led inside.

He took one last bite of garlic and swallowed it. Then, he walked up to one of the guards.

"I need to see the king." He stated, with the stench of garlic escaping his mouth.

The guard raised an eyebrow and quickly entered the throne room. After that, Richard waited patiently until the same guard returned, holding the door open for him.

"He will see you immediately." The guard stated.

"Much appreciated." Richard thanked him, walking inside.

He could clearly see how the guard waved his arm trying to blow away the stench of garlic as he closed the door behind him. For him, it was a good sign, for the garlic's smell would be very well noticeable. Such event caused him to smile behind his visor as he walked up to the king.

"Good to see you again, Richard. Do you need anything?" The king spoke, standing up from his throne.

"Yes, it's about the assault in the cave days ago." He answered.

Unfortunately, he forgot that if he spoke while walking, the stench he breathed would be sent against him. He had no more options than to endure both the taste and the horrible smell of the garlic, with his stomach twisting upon itself on the verge of puking.

"Did something happen?" The king questioned, curious after Richard kept silent, unaware of him trying to fight his own guts.

"Yes." Richard answered, now standing in front of the king. He made sure to be at a distance where his stench would reach him, while remaining far away enough not to raise any suspicion and awkward situations. "In the cave, as you might have heard from the soldiers," He made sure to speak as much as possible. "I dueled a rattlesnake. I fought and I won, but there is something I discovered after interrogating her. It was quite difficult to interrogate her because of her... Well... Monstrosity, so to speak, but-"

"...I'm terribly sorry, Richard, but I'm short on time. I'm going to need you to be quick."

Richard didn't know whether the garlic affected him or if he truly was short on time. Having to decipher it for himself, he kept speaking while paying close attention to anything he did.

"...I understand. As I was saying, I interrogated the rattlesnake. She told me something strange, I don't know what she had meant, but she was promsed something by someone, that she had been following orders from a 'Black Alice', if I remember correctly."

As he kept speaking, the King's composure began changing. His skin became slightly pale and his body almost unnoticeably shaked. It was as if he was losing control by the minute. Such actions were accentuated by the sudden cough he gave.

However, he still believed there was a small chance it was merely a coincidence.

"After that, there is the topic of the sand worm. It was different than anything I've-"

"I'm sorry Richard," The king interrupted him, placing his hand over his shoulder and talking with a rough voice. "But this will have to be discussed another day. I'll be sure to listen, but I can't now."

"...I understand." Richard answered, slowly turning around. "I'll return another day, then."

As easily as he arrived, he began walking away. The king had erupted into a cough fit as he left. In his mind, judging by everything that had happened, there was more proof of the king being a vampire than not. Despite the proof, there was still no way of telling if such things were true or false. It only served to confuse him further, now unable to pick a side.

"I have a few last questions to ask." Richard stated, stopping on his tracks and turning around.

"Yes?"

"Why was I sent with only six men to defeat the raiders? And why were there only two hundred in the assault against the cave? You could have conscripted more men, yet you sent us out there like that. The raiders almost ambushed us, we would have died instantly, don't you think?"

"I knew the dangers associated." The king answered, already sitting on the throne with his eyes narrowed and his hand over his mouth. "I had trusted that they'd have been good enough soldiers to take care of things, especially you. As you can see, you have succeeded."

"I see. That's a relief, I guess."

* * *

Night had arrived in Sabasa. The starry skies and moonlight were the only things illuminating the darkened, abandoned region of the city, with Richard, Ryada and Nuri sitting on the edge of the tallest building, the one he had climbed not too long ago to see the destruction of Sabasa. It was the same as before, but with the night darkening the scenery and limiting the destruction seen from such point.

"How long have we been here?" Ryada questioned.

"Probably half an hour." Richard questioned, with his elbow on his thigh and palm under his jaw.

"And for how long do we have to stay?" Nuri asked.

"Until they notice."

They could do nothing but stay on the edge of the building, hoping to be noticed. The moonlight, coupled with their height, already made them stand out a fair amount.

"Have you decided?" A voice spoke behind Richard. He was very well aware it was not Nuri nor Ryada, for it was the voice of a man.

Nonchalantly, Richard took out a garlic from one of his pouches and softly threw it at the source of the voice. It managed to impact against the man's forehead, who did not even flinch, but raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Was that necessary?" The man, the King, questioned.

"No." Richard snickered. "And yes, I have decided. Proof isn't quite as overwhelming as I had imagined, but I guess it's enough. What's the plan, King?"

The king smiled and walked forward, sitting on the edge of the building next to Richard to explain.

"I need to show everyone that the current 'king' is an impostor. The vampire trusts you, Richard. You were able to get inside and get close to her. Assuming you didn't commit any mistakes, she still doesn't suspect anything, thus, you'll be a great asset in this. Moving on to the plan. We have enough men to assault the castle but only by surprise, not when it's heavily defended. We break in, kill the vampire if we can, and reclaim the throne. Ultimately, for the vampire to show its true form is enough for everyone to see the truth, but if it remains alive we'll be at a great disadvantage."

"And what do I have to do?"

"It's simple. Once the attack begins, you'll rush inside and alert the 'king'. Then, you'll have to make sure it goes to a place where there is no escape. The dungeon would be the best best, seeing as there is only one way in and out."

"Good enough. Count me in."

"Good to see you're with us, Richard. I feel heartbroken, probably having to kill my fellow Sabasans... But some things in life just have to be done."

"It's understandable, don't worry about it. Say, what if the vampire doesn't head into the dungeon? I can't exactly force it to head there."

"It might escape through any opening. Seeing as it's the vampire queen, it's certain she has the required ability to do so in such situation - If she even needs to escape to begin with, that is. I'm not sure if they fly, probably not."

"And who kills it?"

"I was expecting you to do so after everyone surrounded it."

"Listen, I don't care if you're the king, if you suggest that again I'll beat you with a garlic. That damned vampire queen will kill me just by looking at me in a mean way."

The king sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I can't say I didn't expect that reaction. I guess luck alone kept you alive. I'll have to give it a go, I was outnumbered against those vampires anyways. Who knows? Perhaps in a duel I'll succeed."

"Why not gang up on it with everyone? I don't think it'll be able to move with fifty spears in its throat."

"She is far too powerful for anyone. Everyone attacking at once would only serve to hinder eachother. I have to do that."

"You'll get yourself killed."

"I know."

"That's... Depressing. When does the attack begin?"

"First light of dawn, in four days. I need to muster more men in that time."

"Understood. I'll be near the front of the castle, alert me somehow when it's time."

"Will do. My strength alone may not be enough, Richard, so I will need you to attack the vampire queen too. Maybe your luck will help, who knows."

"Didn't you say that everyone attacking would cause too much trouble?"

"It will if it's fifty against one. Not so in this case, with the few of us."

"I will attack too." Nuri interrupted.

"Nuri..." Richard sighed, already too annoyed to even begin explaining why that'd not be the greatest choice.

"If you truly wish to do so," The king explained, ignoring Richard. "You will have to go inside with Richard. All things considered, you have enough strength to be of help."

"I understand." Nuri acknowledged. Then, she turned her head to Richard with a devious smile. "Guess you'll have to train me, darling~"

"Oh for the love of..." Richard ranted, sighing and and bringing both his palms to his visor in sheer annoyance.

"May Ilias forgive us for the attrocities we'll commit." The King whispered to himself.

* * *

A day later, Richard decided to take Nuri to the blacksmith's to prepare her further. For him, it was obvious she was barely ready for anything that truly required her full potential. Despite almost beating him back then, mostly due to his lack of knowledge regarding her weaknesses, there were still entities far more powerful than him that would defeat her painfully easily.

"Good to see you again, Richard." The blacksmith's brother greeted him as he arrived down the street, sitting outside. "Hello, salamander. Where is the rat girl? Thought I'd see her with you two."

Richard simply pointed to his head, or specifically above it. Over his helmet and under his hood, Ryada laid sleeping.

"Glad that you're doing fine in here." Richard spoke. "Listen, I need a favor. A big one. If it's not much to ask, that is."

"I see. Follow me."

The blacksmith's brother stood up and entered the shop, with Richard and Nuri following.

"Welcome, Richard. Back so soon?" The blacksmith greeted him.

"Unfortunately. Nuri needs some armor. Can you do anything?"

"Of course I can. She has the proportions of a human, doesn't she?" He joked while walking off to the racks of armor.

Before he did anything, he brought his hand to his jaw and stared at Nuri for a few seconds. Obviously, she felt awkward.

"Get a padded jacket and chainmail." He told his brother right before beginning to grab the pieces of armor he required.

"Will do." He replied, heading off to the back of the shop.

After a while, the blacksmith finished gathering the required pieces and hauled them to the counter. At the same time, his brother arrived and placed the padded jacket next to the pile of armor.

"Go ahead." The blacksmith stated.

Nuri walked forward to the counter and grabbed the shoulder pieces, confused.

"You need to put on the jacket first. Armor or mail without padding is the bane of anyone's existence." The blacksmith explained, unaware of her lack of experience in this subject.

"I... See..." Nuri acknowledged. She was far too used to her current outfit, thus, this kind of armor was alien to her.

She took off her waist and shoulder scale armor, grabbed the jacket and put it on with effort, then proceeded with the mail. After that, with Richard's help, she began putting on the armor the blacksmith had gathered for her. She grabbed the breastplate and tried placing it on her, but immediately encountered difficulties.

"It's too tight." She complained. "Don't you have anything for... Well, you know, a woman?"

"Surprisingly, I do. Wait a second here."

He left for the back of the shop and, after a short wait, returned with another breastplate which clearly had more space at the front, specifically for a woman's breasts.

"Quite a story with this one." He said, giving Nuri the breastplate. "I accidentally hammered it too hard and ended up denting the chest. So, instead of scrapping it I ended up making space in case a woman adventurer arrived. Funny coincidence, isn't it?"

Without a word, Nuri placed the breastplate on her. It managed to fit comfortably enough to move and tight enough not to bother her. Her lack of complaints were already a sign that she found the piece comfortable enough, making the blacksmith smile.

After that, the shoulder pieces followed. Then the arms, elbows, legs, skirt, and so on until what was not covered by her leg and hand scales was covered by her new armor.

"I can barely move at all. This is too heavy." She complained.

"You'll get used to it." Richard assured her. "That or you get something sharp and cold in your gut."

"Want to take a look?" The blacksmith asked, pointing to a fairly large mirror at one of the walls.

As he suggested, Nuri walked to the mirror and stood in front of it, staring at her reflection. At the same time, Richard walked around the shop for something she still required.

"I look... Weird." She stated, moving in place to see how she looked.

Before she could even do anything else, Richard returned and dropped a helmet on her head, frightening and effectively blinding her due to not getting used to helmets at all.

"What was that for?!" She questioned.

"You'll need a helmet. You don't want a spear in your eye, do you? Here, you'll need this too."

He handed her a shield, purposefully bashing her with it enough for her to notice past all the armor and because she could not even see straight. After she noticed, she grabbed it.

"Why the shield?" She asked.

"A sword blocking is a sword not striking. Plus, you need to learn how to defend yourself. And let's not get started on how arrows would kill you easily without a shield, even with all that armor. You wanted training? Oh you'll train alright."

"...I'm not sure if I want to train at all, now."

"Is something happening for that armor to be required?" The blacksmith questioned.

"Well..." Richard spoke, trying to come up with a plausible reason that'd not reveal his plans. "The monsters, as far as I know, were led by a 'Black Alice'. I don't know who or what that thing is but... I guess it's better to be prepared for anything. Most likely I'll have to fight again, and I'd rather have a dependable companion."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Here, think fast." Richard spoke while quickly taking out a bag of gold and throwing it in his direction, right before walking behind Nuri and pushing her out the shop.

"You don't need to pay, you kno-"

"LALALALALA I CAN NOT HEAR YOU!"

* * *

Immediately after leaving the blacksmith, Richard decided to head off to the abandoned parts of the city, with Nuri following close.

"You have a weird fixation for this place." Nuri remarked, still trying to get used to the almost blinding visor of her new helmet.

"This is where we'll train every day from now on." Richard stated. "You better get used to it."

"You do realize we could've trained in the city, right? We're not going to blow anything up by clashing swords."

"Oh I know, but I have another definition of 'training'. You're going to learn not only how to fight, but to use every available option in your favor."

Richard looked around and decided to walk up to the wall of an abandoned building. Once in front of the wall, he quickly meditated on his next course of action, deciding to back off a few steps. Once in place, he quickly sprinted towards the wall and jumped, placing his foot over the window's frame and propelling himself upwards with enough force to reach the edge of the roof with his hands, leaving him hanging. With the aid of his feet, he climbed until he managed to stand over the edge of the roof, now looking at Nuri.

"Okay, first test. Try to reach me."

"...Seriously?"

"Obviously."

"I don't think I'll be able to reach that high with all this armor weighing me down."

"I don't really care for any excuses. Your objective now is to get to me. Find a way."

"Ugh... Fine..."

Following his steps, she sprinted to the wall and jumped with her natural monster strength, stepping over the window frame and propelling herself upwards with enough force to grab the edge of the roof.

What she didn't expect was Richard kicking her fingers off the edge, causing her to fall to the ground.

"Why?!" She ranted, trying to stand up. She was still not used to the weight of her armor.

"Why did you think I'd make things easy for you?" Richard questioned, crossing his arms. "You wanted to train with me, here you have it. Now get up."

"So... All I need is to get to you, huh?" She muttered to herself, backing off from the wall.

She tried the same thing. She sprinted to the wall, jumped on the window frame, propelled herself upwards, but this time grabbed the edge of the roof with one hand and tried grabbing Richard's leg, who was almost on the edge, with her other hand. This forced him to back off, leaving Nuri with enough time to climb onto the roof successfully.

"Good." Richard stated. "You're learning."

"Thanks... Now then, shall we?" She questioned, unsheathing her sword.

"No." He answered, turning around and running away.

Nuri simply stood in place, seeing him jump over the streets onto the roof of the other house, just like the raiders from before.

"Oh come on!" Nuri yelled at him.

"Before anything," Richard spoke loud enough for his voice to be heard by her. "You have to learn to move with that armor on. If you don't, it'll do you more harm than good. Come on, chase me, if you can catch me we'll train in combat."

"...The things I put up with." Nuri whispered to herself before sprinting to the edge of the roof and jumping over the street to the other house's roof. Richard had already ran off a considerable distance.

It wasn't until after minutes of chasing eachother that Richard broke into a house, a two story tall one that had a window accessible from the rooftops. Nuri, guessing he was trapped, decided to catch up and jump into the building through the window.

Once inside, she could not see him. The fact that there was a ladder leading to an open hatch on the ceiling gave her a clue of where he was, and so, decided to climb it.

However, once on the roof, Richard was nowhere to be seen. Nuri remained confused, up until the sound of chainmail and steel plates impacting against something solid caught her attention. She ran to the edge of the roof and stared below, seeing Richard rolling over the rooftops below her and standing up, looking at her. It was clear he had just jumped out.

"If you can't get somewhere, I'll be sure to be right there." He taunted her.

Nuri stomped on the roof out of anger, deciding to run back to the hatch to catch up with him. The the added weigh and encumbrance of her armor had discouraged her from jumping.

Once again, after getting out of the building through the same windows she entered through, Richard was nowhere to be seen.

"Where are you now!?" She yelled.

The sound of someone whistling caught her attention immediately. She turned to see what it was, only to notice Richard clinging with one hand over the edge of a building's roof on the opposite side of the street.

"You have to work on your agility, too. Strength, agility, intelligence, speed, situational awareness, everything. Specialization is for insects."

After finishing, he let go and landed on the street out of her sight's reach.

Furious due to his taunts and her lack of success, Nuri ran off to the edge of the building and jumped down onto the ground, rolling to soften her fall as he learnt from simply seeing Richard a minute ago. She immediately stood up and looked for Richard, who was, yet once again, nowhere to be found.

"I swear, once I find you, you're dead!" She yelled. "Where did you go!?"

A small rock struck against the back of her helmet. Already irritated enough, she turned around expecting to see Richard taunting her again.

Richard wasn't there.

"Remember how I said you need to work on your situational awareness?" Richard spoke, with his voice ridiculously close to Nuri, behind her.

Nuri turned around once more. This time, Richard was walking not even a meter in front of her.

"Well, yes, you need to work on that too." He continued.

"...Got you!" She stated, throwing herself at him.

Unfortunately for her, he managed to dodge her, causing her to land against the ground. Before she stood up, he quickly ran off to a building and broke into it by throwing himself against the window.

"...You're weird." Nuri muttered, standing up and walking up to the building that had no other way out than through the front of it.

She climbed through the window and got inside. This time, however, the building was too dark for her to see properly. Clearly the only source of light was the window.

"Now, where are you?" She whispered to herself, walking further into the room.

"Seriously? That easily?" Richard asked.

His voice came from behind her, confusing her even further. She turned around and, out the window, he saw Richard hanging upside down by the roof edge.

"Oh come on, how can you avoid me that easily?! I almost defeated you back then with the raiders, how can you even make things so difficult now?!"

"Well... There were many factors back then." He explained, still upside down. "For starters, I didn't know you nor your capabilities. Secondly, I was too focused on you and the imminent fight to think properly. You know, fright and all that. And third and most important, Ryada was there, I think you remember. I was stuck and forced to fight you. I don't care if it was the monster lord and the four knights themselves charging at me, I was not going to leave Ryada. Now then, currently we're not fighting, meaning you can't really use your 'knowledge' in combat against me. Plus, that armor's weighing you down. I expect you to get used to it to the point we're equals. No, not even that, I expect you to surpass me since you're a monster that's supposed to be a fighter by birth."

"I... See. Anyways, where's Ryada? Wasn't she with you?"

"Yes, she was. She told me she wanted to run around a bit and simply see if she could find anything interesting. I trust her enough to know she'll not get in trouble, so I let her do as she pleased. And-...Blood... Head... Can't... Sh-"

Nuri could hear very well the sound of Richard losing grip and falling to the ground, with the armor clanking as he struck against the ground. Aware of him having to recover, she walked outside with her shield and sword already drawn since before.

"You know..." She spoke while walking up to his body rolled up into a ball due to the fall. "Does this count as 'reaching you'?"

"I guess so. Now, if you are kind enough not to stab me while I stand up..."

Grunting and with great effort, he writhed on the ground until he was stable enough to stand up. Once up, he drew his sword and shield, positioning himself in front of Nuri.

"You ready?" He asked.

"Ready."

Without even letting her react, he quickly bashed her with his shield, causing her to stumble back a few steps.

"Hey, I was not ready!" She ranted, trying to regain balance, only to be cut off by Richard bashing her again and causing her to fall on the ground.

"You had a sword drawn, shield high and armor on. You're as ready as you'll ever be." He stated, walking up to her and stepping over her chest so as not to let her stand up.

With a swift movement of her tail, she tried swooping his foot that remained on the ground to make him lose his balance. She failed once Richard shifted his weight to the foot over her chest and raised his other foot, dodging the tail. Immediately thereafter, he backed off and climbed another building, painfully aware most of her difficulty lied in actually trying to reach him, not in fighting him.

"That's not fair!" She yelled, standing up.

"Nothing's fair, you know. Also, word of advice, I already learnt your weaknesses. It's bad enough that the same move worked twice now. Where did you learn to fight?"

"It all comes naturally to me. It used to work against anyone."

"Sabasans can't fight in close combat, most of them are archers, that's why it worked. You're probably flailing your sword around relying on your own strength too, so you have to learn techniques. Come on, we have only three days and you still have too much to learn."

"Fine, fine..."

Like in the beginning, she walked up to the wall below Richard and meditated on what to do. She knew climbing it would not work, since Richard had already seen what succeeded last time and would've planned accordingly. Thus, she tried coming up with another solution.

"Giving up?" Richard taunted, raising his arms to his sides.

"Train for this one." Nuri retorted, walking up to the wall once she saw a possible solution, a crack in the wall with the wall's skeleton showing.

"If you try climbing, I'll simply kick you down again."

She simply looked at him and smiled, with him unaware of it due to her helmet. Then, with her monster strength, kicked the weakened wall. This caused the wall to crumble and, added to the fact that the buildings were weakened already, caused a chain reaction that led to the surface under Richard's boots giving in. He had no time to scream once he fell along with the rubble, ending up sitting upon a throne of dust and rocks.

"Well? How's that?" Nuri questioned with a devious smile, holding her sword up to his neck.

"You win, you win..." Richard spoke while laughing to himself.

He raised his arm, placed his hand over the blade of her sword and pushed it away before standing up and heading to the middle of street.

"Listen, unless it's someone really important that you need alive, you should stab him. Can't take the risk of your opponent fighting again, can we?"

He walked up to her while rearranging his shield on his hand and, once close enough, immediately bashed her with it. Nuri had no more options than to back off and regain balance.

"Hey, that was uncalled for!" She complained, desperately covering herself with her shield.

Richard bashed her with his shield once more, forcing her to back off further and further. She could do nothing to stop it, for she did not know how to defend herself against such equipment and techniques.

Before she could even think of a solution, Richard had changed tactics. Instead of mindlessly bashing her with his shield, he simply raised his shield to cover him and advanced. Then, he swung his sword from the side to attack her, who could not counter-attack him.

Nuri, unable to do much, moved her shield from in front of her to her side where the sword strike would arrive. The sword impacted against the shield, but Richard bashed her once more, this time without her shield to take the force of it.

She immediately fell to the ground, with Richard now holding his sword at her, laughing to himself.

"That wasn't funny." Nuri complained.

"Well for me it was. More so now that I know exactly how to fight you. Take this whole training as payback for causing me so much trouble back then."

"Why are you so strong now!?"

"You'll know eventually. You need to learn how to use your shield as a weapon too instead of depending on it entirely as a blocking instrument, 'darling'. Look at it this way: I used my shield as a weapon to strike you with. See where that led me?"

"Unfortuantely. How am I supposed to counter it?"

"You're not supposed to give the enemy such opportunity in the first place." He explained, sheathing his sword and holding his hand towards her.

Nuri grabbed his hand and was pulled to her feet by him.

"I'll tell you something that I was taught long ago... Hell if I remember by who or when... But aided me far too much. While fighting, you never strike to 'win', you strike to find an opening. That's what I was doing with my shield. I can't attack through my shield, nor does it have spikes for it to be able to cause damage, so I bashed you with it to find an opening. You always fell to the ground and couldn't block it, so it worked. Just recently, I bashed you with my shield and you backed off, I didn't find an opening. I attacked you with my sword by the side, you moved your shield to block it. Found an opening, you left yourself exposed. Bashed you with my shield again to exploit that opening, you fell to the ground. Were it a real fight you'd have died. Get what I mean?"

"Well, now I do."

"And we're here to make sure that happens to your opponent, not to you. Bottom line, you seek openings, not victories. Get an opening? Exploit it to find more, and so on. Also, combat isn't drawn out as you might have realized with any poor sod you might have encountered. Sometimes it ends in two swings, if not one. You need to keep your opponent busy and pressured, just like I was doing with you. While pressuring your opponent, you try to find an opening and exploit it. Never play around, that'll get you killed. And we're talking about single combat here; in formations, combat becomes another thing entirely."

"Formations?"

"That's how humans fight wars. Discipline, organization, and thousands upon thousands of soldiers instead of raw strength and fury. Listen, I'm going to teach you something I've learnt in the San Ilian army for formations, but it also works when fighting with an ally or more. You'll probably be with me most if not all the time, so it'll be useful."

Richard raised his hand to his waist and stared around, trying to find a replacement due to needing another person to demonstrate properly what he wished to. In his mind, he didn't have an idea of a proper replacement; perhaps a spear dug into the ground or another sharp object tall enough, but he didn't expect anything useful to be in a mainly civilian district long abandoned.

That is, until a rock struck his helmet, gaining his attention.

"Nuri, did you just hit me?" He questioned, thinking she wanted payback already.

"Uhhh, no. It was those guys." She explained, pointing high above to the roof of a building.

"'Those guys'?" He whispered, following her aim with his eyes.

He could see them. Four of them, sitting on the edge of the rooftops, hooded figures exactly the same as before. One even waved at him.

"Saw you staring around, need help?" One asked loud enough for him to hear clearly.

"Right on time. Yes, I need one person down here. One with a shield, if possible."

At his words, one of the four men stood up while leaving his spear on the rooftop. He leaned on the edge and jumped towards Richard and Nuri, rolling on the ground to soften his fall and standing up right in front of them, with a small round shield on his hands.

"...Efficient." He stated, surprised by his agility. "Stand next to me in front of Nuri and hold that shield firmly, I'll explain why."

"Richard, are you training the salamander?" One of the remaining three men questioned.

"I am. How did you people find us anyways?"

"We've been watching for a while. You're in our territory, remember?"

"Right..." He whispered to himself, now turning to Nuri. "You ready?"

"Yes." She answered.

"Good. You're not going to fight with your sword as I mentioned earlier, you're going to fight with your shield too. The more you can fight with, the better. I want you - without your sword - to shoulder bash him with your shield."

"Wait, me?" The hooded man next to him questioned.

"Brace for impact, son."

Without delay, Nuri gripped the hanlde of her shield and bashed the man who held his shield high, making him back off a few steps.

"Good." Richard continued. "If this was a battle between formations, there would be an entire line on our side fighting an entire line on your side. Now you have the man in front of you occupied. There's another guy where I am and another guy besides you. I'm attacking him but you are going to attack me, not the one you just bashed."

As soon as he finished explaining, he raised his shield towards Nuri and braced, signalling her to start once more.

Nuri bashed the man in front of her, causing him to stumble back. After that, stabbed Richard's shield.

"Good. People can't defend from two fronts at the same time so he's pretty much dead. In the meantime the one next to you will be doing the exact same thing and so on down the line, so as long as the line is kept, you're strong. Since we won't be fighting in formation anytime soon, it will be different, but the concept remains the same. Kill the guy who is distracted while keeping yourself safe with your shield. It's all about not fighting fair and killing as many as soon as possible."

"Is that how they do things in San Ilia?" The man next to him questioned.

"Indeed they do. They put great emphasis in discipline and organization. Most likely it's the reason why they didn't suffer as much from the attacks. It takes an almost inhuman amount of discipline to fight to the death against those walking nightmares when you can easily escape and survive, and every single soldier in there stood their ground. Assuming you've heard what happened, that is."

"That I heard. Was that focus on discipline the reason you were fearless against the sand worm and the rattlesnake? I heard you killed them on your own, but also heard that it wasn't anything special. You know, luck and all that."

"I was far from fearless, but most likely it's that. Can't really remember exactly how I was trained, people have asked me that a lot of times, but I still felt the obligation to carry out my orders. Orders I gave myself. Anyways, Nuri, back to training."

Immediately, Richard stepped forward and bashed Nuri with his shield, causing her to back off and almost lose balance. Needless to say, the hooded man backed off too to avoid being a casualty. Richard stepped forward and tried swinging his sword from the side, forcing Nuri to move her shield. Once she moved it, he pushed his shield forward. It missed, Nuri having stepped aside and bashed him with her shield in turn, forcing him to stumble back.

"Ah, you're learning now."

"I know."

Richard began circling Nuri, who also circled him, with his shield high and sword aimed at her. Trying to find an opening, he lunged forwards and attempted to stab her. Nuri blocked it and pressed on, bashing him with her shield once more, as if it was an ironic vengeance against him. He would've stepped back to dodge it, but couldn't after feeling something holding him in place and fell to the ground instantly.

He realized Nuri had stepped on his foot, unable to feel it due to the steel layer of it.

Exploiting the opening, Nuri rushed forward and stepped on his torso, kicking his sword away and aiming hers down his neck.

"Doesn't this remind you of something? You know, back then when this was reversed?"

"You're having fun with this, aren't you?"

"Who am I to deny it?"

"Think fast."

Richard quickly grabbed a handful sand from the ground with his free hand and threw it against Nuri's eyes, who managed to turn away before it got into her eyes. Richard used the opportunity to push her sword away, remove her foot with a swift movement, and roll aside for his sword. Once he grabbed it, he stood up and took stance against her.

She was not amused at victory escaping from her hands.

* * *

After a hard day of training, night had arrived. Nuri and Richard were exhausted after the gruelling training. Still wishing to stay for a while longer, both of them and Ryada climbed up the tallest building from before to the roof and laid back, staring at the starry skies. Obviously Nuri had already removed her helmet due to uncomfortability.

"Have you never seen it like that?" Nuri questioned, noticing Richard silent and admiring the skies covered with an innumerable number of stars.

"No. I never really paid much attention to notice."

"You're missing on a lot of things in life." Ryada stated.

"Say..." Nuri continued. "What are you going to do after this?"

"Hm?" Ryada and Richard asked, confused.

"What will happen if vampire is defeated? After all returns to normal?"

"I don't know." Richard answered. "I don't want to just settle down... I want to see the other regions, see the world. Now that I realize, there are a lot of things I'd love to see. Plus, I want to know what will happen in the future to everyone, to mankind."

"I'll stay with Richard." Ryada answered. "Despite all that happened, I've been with him all this time. The only times I feel at home is when I'm besides him."

"That's heartwarming." Nuri stated. "Richard, are you planning to go to Noah?"

"Most likely. I'm thinking of going to Noah and later on Grangold to see what happened to the rest of my guys."

"Can I go with you?"

"...Are you certain?"

"I want to see the snow. I want to see something that I've never seen, to go where I haven't gone before. Staying in one place all the time feels like a cage, I want to go with you wherever you go too. What else am I going to do here? It's not like I know anyone else apart from you and Ryada."

"Alright. I'll take you to Noah as you wish after this."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise. But first, you have to promise me something."

"What is it?"

"Don't die."

Nuri remained silent. It was at that time that she remembered that no one had any otherworldy protection, that anything may happen to anyone at a moments notice. Her training in particular was because otherwise she'd have far too many chances of dying. Her armor emphasized her need for protection, everyone's need.

"I promise." She finally answered.

"If you want to keep that promise, well... We still have two or three days left for you to at the very least get up to my level."

"I'll train until I become better than you."

Richard snickered.

"And..." Nuri continued. "...Once I surpass you, there won't be anything stopping me from having my way with you, would there?"

"Heinrich dammit..." Richard cursed while Nuri laughed to herself.

"Tell me, though... Why won't you make love to me?"

"Are you serious?" Richard question with painful irritation already showing.

"I am. I mean, for Ryada it's kind of obvious... But I'm your size."

"Hey, I heard that." Ryada stated.

"Be honest for once." Nuri told her.

Richard simply sighed.

"Are you going to let your lust dictate your decisions?" He answered with yet another question.

"You're making it sound like an exaggeration and a bad thing."

"Ugh... I have no interest in such things. I have better things to do with my time."

"Like staring at the sky and doing nothing?"

"Yes."

Feeling unanswered, Nuri crawled up to Ryada without Richard being able to notice.

"Do you know anything?" She asked Ryada, whispering.

"Nothing. Last time I asked he said it was 'his problem with people'. He's hiding something, I think."

"Must be that-"

"I don't think both of you realize," Richard interrupted. "But I can hear you clearly."

Nuri and Ryada shivered by the fright.

"Now that both of you understand I don't want anything to do with that topic, whoever tries anything will regret it deeply."

"You shouldn't deny your needs, Richard." Nuri continued, believing he limited himself on purpose. "Not in times like this. Pleasure doesn't harm anyone."

"I'm not denying my needs." He stated. "I don't have them to begin with."

"Then what about ours?"

"Why do you think I've tried to have my way with you?"

"Come on, answer."

"You're not going to get an answer from me."

"Is it because you can't answer it?"

"Answering it would put me in an ever worse situation."

"Then let me ask you another question. All this time, were you thinking of your own desires instead of ours?" She asked, sitting up and smiling at him deviously.

"I expected you to learn to fight, not to corner me with your words."

"So you're admitting it?"

"Oh for the love of..."

"Come on, it's either willingly or I'll have to force you once I get better~"

"You're giving me reasons to stop training you."

"Then if I die it'll be your fault."

"Dammit. You need to control yourself, you know."

"I'm not going to ignore something that can grant me pleasure in a world like this."

"Yeah, okay, good luck with that."

"You say that now, we'll see."

"You tall people are funny when you argue." Ryada stated, already half asleep.


	7. Chapter 7: Assault

It was midday of the day before the planned assault. Richard and Nuri kept fighting each other, training themselves, learning and improving as much as they could in the short time span of only a few days.

But despite what event would take place the next day, one of them remained idle. It was Ryada, who simply stared at them from the edge of the roof, knowing very well she was unable to fight at their level. In her mind, she saw them as two great powerful beings, not unlike how a human would see a giant golem in comparison, but for her it was a far more bitter feeling since everyone was like them, she was the only one of such size and physical weakness. This unfortunate trait had left her with a feeling of being left out of everything.

Ryada shook her head, trying to erase such pessimist thoughts from her mind and trying to find a way to aid them. It was painfully clear for her that she didn't have many ways to do so, even as a scout. She felt unimportant, a burden, she felt the need to prove herself worthy of being in Richard's company, but didn't have the knowledge to do so.

"Hello, rat girl." One of the King's men greeted her, sitting down on the roof's edge next to her.

"Hey." She answered.

"You sound troubled." He stated. He was aware of how she felt simply by her tone of voice, which Ryada had accidentally left unchecked. "What's in your mind?"

"...Nothing."

"You're not good at deceiving." He remarked. He noticed how she had been staring at Richard and Nuri training ever since he arrived, leaving him with a clue of what her thoughts were about. "Is it about not being as strong as them?"

Ryada simply lowered her head, not giving an answer.

"You feel like you're of no use, right?"

"Yes." She affirmed in a sorrowful tone.

"Everyone feels that way."

"How so?"

"In human war, there are thousands upon thousands of soldiers on each side fighting. When you're only one simple soldier in ten thousands or even more, nameless and faceless to everyone but those who truly know you, you feel like you're not even worth the equipment and training you were given. That happens to everyone, to all sides of a struggle, but we still have to fight with the best we have despite our worthlessness as individuals."

"I can't even fight, what am I supposed to do? They already have everything in their hands."

"Not everything is decided when swords clash, rat girl. An army may be ambushed and annihilated, even if it consisted entirely of veterans. That's when scouts, you, come in. You scout well, I heard. Supplies, logistics, pathfinding, scouting... To get an army to fight to begin with is a feat by itself. Those who don't fight, such as you, are as important as those who do."

"The only thing I can do is scout, but even then the opportunity never appears. The only times it appeared it was already planned for me ahead."

"Is that the truth, or have you simply not found them to begin with?"

Ryada remained silent, turning her head to the soldier in confusion.

"The job of a scout is not always to find something when moving ahead, rat girl. It's to make sure nothing threatening is encountered. Those are two different concepts, do not be mistaken. You don't simply look around and call it a day, you have to see everything and make sure nothing remains unseen. You're the eyes of an army, after all."

At his words, Ryada lowered her head as if she was looking to the ground below, thinking. This allowed the soldier to continue.

"Your role differs greatly from a fighter's in every way. A fighter finds an opponent and aims to kill it. His skills are entirely devoted to combat. A scout has to explore every location and make sure every opportunity is taken. Your skills have to be devoted entirely in them. You must not wait for opportunities to present themselves like a fighter, you must find them, or make them."

"Thanks for the advice." Ryada stated with a smile, yet still feeling slightly down. "You know a lot about this. How?"

"I was a scout. Funny coincidence, isn't it?"

Her eyes sparked open with interest almost immediately.

"C-can you teach me more!?" She questioned, eager.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I can't exactly teach you anything in this regard. That's all there is to it. The difficult part is mastering those skills. Plus, scouts differ from each other depending on their roles. I was a scout for an army, you'll be Richard's scout, so your methods will be far different than mine. All I can tell you that'd help you is to train your recognition, sight and infiltration. Your tiny size, no offense, may prevent you from being a fighter, but..."

He interrupted himself, extending his hand towards Nuri and Richard who kept fighting each other and making Ryada look at them. The sound of their swords clashing against their shields could be very well heard at this distance.

"...Do you really think they'd be better scouts than you? Once you get out of the desert, you'll be able to hide almost anywhere. Even grass can keep you hidden if you know what you're doing."

"How did you do as a scout?"

"You won't be learning anything from my stories, you know."

"I know, I'm just curious."

The soldier scratched his head, unsure of what to tell her.

"I'm fairly certain you'll be scouting short distances, since you won't be in an army and your size doesn't really let you move that fast. That's the kind of scout I was, one for long distances ahead of an army. I move ahead and explored the terrain for anything that may seem threatening, I walk into forests or other places that may hide something to look for ambushes, I move around the area to see for any favourable terrain should a battle present itself. The distance that we moved ahead was so great that one scout alone would not do, we needed dozens, sometimes hundreds if the army's that big, and since there are so many, one scout alone isn't that important if lost.

"What if you run into an ambush when scouting?"

"I'd probably die. Tough luck. My absence would be noticed and if whoever commands the army isn't a complete retard they'll take appropriate actions."

"You sound like Richard."

"Really? How?"

"You don't seem to worry that much about it. About... You know, losing your life."

"That's how many humans are."

"Why?"

"I don't know, to be honest."

* * *

Most of the day had passed with Richard and Nuri training, and with Ryada and the soldier discussing. Night had arrived quite fast for them despite starting at midday, as would for anyone that would be entertained by something causing time to just fly by. The group had decided to head back to the city as soon as their sight became obscured by the lack of light, knowing very well the day that followed, at the first light of dawn, the attack would begin.

The sudden anxiety of an event that would require their full commitment coming soon engulfed the three of them as they walked through the torch-lit streets of the city. It was unlike the other assignment, for this time Richard and Nuri would be going to attack the castle itself with the other men. For Richard, it felt awfully close to what he imagined would be a proper army assaulting a city and breaking into a castle. For Nuri, she would be fighting among humans for the first time, and also against the vampire queen. For Ryada, it didn't mean the same. She knew she didn't have much relevancy in the situation, but she still kept in mind what the soldier had taught her. She had hope that she'd prove herself useful somehow.

In the streets there were almost no people around, merely a few city guards patrolling and a small number of citizens. One of them seemed to see Richard walking with Nuri and Ryada and decided to walk up to them from afar. Once he got close enough to be able to be heard, he raised his arms and greeted Richard, as if they were close friends, but unknown to him at all.

"Richard! How you doing, kid?"

"...Fine, I guess." Richard answered awkwardly. In his mind, he thought it was just another person that knew him due to his actions, and would simply share a few words.

"Fine? Just fine? Hah, I know what you need! Let's go, I'll get you a drink." The man spoke. Even as he spoke he kept getting closer to Richard up until he placed his arm over his shoulder, making him quite nervous. "It's urgent." He whispered, changing tone completely. "The king needs to see you, go with the flow."

For clear reasons, Richard and his two companions were quite shaken.

"Alright then." Richard answered, keeping his composure as if he didn't hear anything while walking with the man who seemed to nudge him to the direction he wished for him to go. "I was going for a drink anyways."

Following the man's subtle directions, the three of them walked along the road in the general direction of the inn, but taking several detours along the way. After a while, they walked along the streets that Richard had never known, far away from any location he had previously visited.

The man stopped in front of a slightly torn building, as if it was abandoned. Not that unlikely, since they walked far enough to reach the division between the abandoned and populated sectors. He knocked on the door and awaited a response.

"Yeah?" A voice questioned from inside. "Who is it?"

"Four piss-poor beggars." The man answered. The answer he gave didn't make a great deal of sense, but it was painfully obvious it was a password.

There was silence behind the door for a few seconds before it opened with the noise of rotten wood creaking, echoing in the night. The man next to Richard walked in, with the rest following.

Inside, they were met with the sight of a couple dozen soldiers, all armed with shields and spears, and others with their longbows. Even the King was there. This left Nuri and Ryada looking around the room in confusion due to so much equipment lying around.

"For what were we needed?" Richard questioned.

"Change of plans." The king answered. "We'll attack immediately."

"What?" The three of them questioned.

"Wait, why now? We agreed for it to be tomorrow." Richard continued.

"I know that very well. There's the slight possibility that the vampire and her deceived men would have found out and prepared accordingly for tomorrow, but not today. It borders paranoia, I know, but we'll attack earlier just to be sure."

"We could have been told beforehand." Nuri stated.

"I made sure nobody knew, salamander. Not even my own men. Everyone was surprised, obviously."

"So..." Richard questioned, confused. "Is it going to be immediately? As in, immediately, no resting for a minute or anything?"

"Indeed. There's a change of plans for you. You'll run directly to the castle and get in with Nuri and Ryada and report to the 'king' as if you were being chased and attacked by us. Ryada has to go too or else suspicions will rise. By the time you get to the vampire, we'd have already broken in. Just follow the plan from there. Now go, and you better hurry because the other men scattered all over the city will attack in a minute with or without you."

"This is too damn abrupt for comfort." Richard ranted, turning around and leaving with Nuri and Ryada.

Once outside, the door closed behind them. The anxiousness they once had became worse, having to carry out the plan far earlier than they had previously thought.

Richard raised his head as if he was looking at the sky and took a deep breath.

"Ready?" Nuri asked.

"Ready." Ryada answered, moving into Richard's hood.

"Hope you learnt to run in that armor." Richard answered, snickering.

* * *

Richard broke through the great doors that led to the throne room, almost tripping on his feet once he stepped in due to the sheer strength of his shoulder bash. Immediately behind him were Nuri and two of the guards who were guarding the same doors little ago, with Ryada hiding behind his hood.

"What's the meaning of this?!" The King questioned while standing up from his throne, startled.

"Shit's on fire- I-I mean..." Richard stuttered as he tried explaining, panting and with his hands on his knees recovering his breath. Before he could continue, however, the sound of metal clashing and men yelling could be very well heard in the building. "That's happening. The vampires are attacking."

"Vampires? I thought they ran away!"

"Yes, well, about that... The vampire that leads them all is out there impersonating you. It gathered men and the remaining vampires, all in human disguise, and is attacking this place. The bastards were chasing us." He explained. Then, he turned to one of the guards next to him. "Listen, you need to get him to safety. We can't escape anyways so he's better off barricading himself somewhere like in the dungeon, we can defend here."

"Damn vampires..." The King muttered, narrowing his eyes and slowly stepping forward to the doors of the throne room, who were now barricaded shut.

"Woah woah woah!" Richard exclaimed, quickly stepping in front of the King to stop him. "You're going to get yourself killed! Let me and the men handle this, alright?"

"I defeated enough vampires to force them to retreat in the first place, Richard." He stated, gently moving him aside by his shoulder. "And there isn't anybody else who would stand against the monstrosity of the vampire queen. Not even you."

"They're already here!" Another guard, who was with a group of others in front of the barricaded door, exclaimed. He had heard the opposition getting closer and closer.

Richard had no more ideas to convince the King to entrench himself in a spot without escape, and time was too limited to try again.

"...Fine." He stated, defeated. "You deal with the queen, we'll deal with everyone else, alright?"

The king smiled at Richard.

"Glad to reach an agreement."

Their ears were deafening by a thunderous, sudden noise followed by a shockwave and smoke, forcing everyone in the room to cover their eyes with their arms. Those who assaulted the castle had used explosives to break through the barricaded gate, leaving behind nothing but black blinding smoke. By the time Richard, Nuri and Ryada had recovered and turned their eyes to the now destroyed doors, an innumerable amount of soldiers rushed into the room, all appearing through the black smoke. Richard, Nuri and the King could do nothing but see how they, with incredible speed, charged in and immobilized the soldiers inside. Their numbers were so great that they achieved control of the castle in mere moments, to the point where they outnumbered the painfully small garrison more than ten to one.

Out of the smoke, another figure walked in. A giant, muscular man, which the smoke covered even after stepping out of the cloud for a few seconds. By the time it dissipated completely, the other King ended up in direct sight of his equivalent. While all this developed, the soldiers of the assault had surrounded them all to the point it seemed like the crowd in a coliseum.

"Ryada, go." Richard whispered.

At his command, Ryada climbed down and rushed out of sight once more, painfully aware that her 'strength' would be more like a burden.

"I have to thank you for returning so early." The king who Richard knew was a vampire spoke. "Now I won't have to search for you."

The true king snickered.

"It takes a great deal of skill to imperso- Think fast!"

Without even a second to spare, he threw the garlic he had hidden in his fist at the other king, who could not expect such event. Amusingly, it struck right in the head.

The false king recoiled, stepping back while holding his face with both his hands in pain while coughing and grunting. Once he uncovered his face, it was different. It was horrifyingly disfigured, with a far paler skin, yellow eyes that seemed rotten and hair that seemed dead. There was no doubt among anyone now that the false king was a vampire. Immediately, Nuri and Richard surrounded the vampire with the true King with their swords high, all while the crowd cheered at them.

Although it seemed like a hopeless situation for the queen to maintain her disguise, she simply broke into a mad laughter. Starting with a small snicker but devolving into borderline insanity. With a cloud of dark smoke, she turned back into her original form as the vampire queen.

"You were stupid enough to come here and challenge me again... But that's to be expected from humans. And you, salamander, it was a mistake to even think if giving your kind an opportunity to serve me."

"That's a real tragedy..." The king taunted with a smile while sliding the blade of his sword through a garlic before throwing it away. Immediately, he lunged forwards with his sword.

The vampire dodged it easily with her monster qualities. She attempted to return the blow, but had to shift priority to block Richard's attack with her cape, which she could control as if it was a part of her body. Richard's attack ended up deflected, the vampire's cape was as tough as steel yet as flexible as any cloth.

At the same time, the King and Nuri swung their swords at her at the same time.

Without being able to push the offensive, the vampire was left with no option but to keep defending herself. She wrapped Richard's sword with her cape in the blink of an eye and threw him aside, leaving her an open way to dodge the King's and Nuri's attack by dashing back to a safe distance. Richard simply rolled on the ground to soften the throw he had endured, immediately standing up afterwards and rushing to the queen once more.

The vampire realized that being outnumbered was a far greater problem that she had imagined, even with her monster qualities and strength. She had to think of something instead of plain brute force. As she began thinking, she recollected what she had learnt in such a short time span:

Richard, despite being stronger than an average Sabasan regarding close combat, was the weakest out of the three, with Nuri following. Thus, she would need to focus on him so as to solve the issue of being outnumbered.

With a burst of speed, she dashed back to the three of them. She moved past Nuri's and the King's swings until she was in front of Richard, who raised his shield in response and attempted to stab her. This failed once the vampire quickly moved aside and positioned herself directly behind him, ready to envelop him in her cape.

She had not expected Nuri to throw herself shield-first against her with enough force to make it appear she flew at her.

Fortunately for the vampire, and unfortunately for the rest, she managed to react in time and move out of the way before receiving the full force of the strike.

She knew that as soon as she attempted to attack one, the other two would react. She wanted to use this to her advantage.

She switched targets and ran up to Nuri, dodging her attack and grabbing her by the tail. As she had expected, both Richard and the King were already swinging their swords at her. With her monstrous strength, she pulled Nuri's tail and swung her against the King as Nuri yelled in both pain and fright. It struck the King, sending him back. With only Richard left standing for a few seconds at the very least, she took the opportunity to push forward and grab him by the neck, lifting him up to her height. Only now did Richard realize just how tall she was.

Richard did what anyone would do. He kicked her in the face, seeing as his feet were left free. The vampire recoiled in pain, but recovered with an expression of untold anger, still not letting go of him.

Nuri returned. She attacked again, this time swinging her sword from below towards the vampire. Sadly, the vampire had already seen her attempt and easily blocked her sword and grabbed her arms with her cape alone. She spun on herself while holding both Richard and Nuri and released them with enough strength to drive them against the walls on opposite sides of the castle.

It was not enough to bring them down, but the pain slowly took its toll on them.

The king advanced and engaged the queen, this time on his own. All his attempts were deflected or dodged to the point where the queen was simply tiring him out.

Soon enough Nuri and Richard arrived again, but this time the vampire was all too prepared for them. The vampire stepped back from the king and targeted Nuri, attempting to strike her in the head. Nuri, startled by the sudden change in her tactics, raised her shield. This was what the vampire had planned for, quickly grabbing and lifting her by the legs and using her own weight against Richard, as if she was a giant club. Richard painfully took the full force of the strike and fell to the ground. Without a second to spare, and moving aside to keep the King away, she raised Nuri high above and swung her at the fallen human with enough strength for him to empty his lungs and give a cry of pain. Afterwards, she threw Nuri at the king. He managed to barely dodge her, but now he had to apply considerable effort in dodging the queen's attacks, with her now using Richard as a club instead. Every time she attempted to strike the king with Richard and missed, Richard was struck against the ground. Either way, this situation favoured the queen. After a while, the queen simply decided to throw Richard at the king. He dodged him, but was struck by the vampire's cape immediately thereafter, who now immobilized him and began repeatedly using her cape as fists while having her arms crossed, as if she was silently taunting him.

The was being mercilessly bludgeoned. Nuri and Richard were unable to do anything about it, their pain had already surpassed their threshold. All the soldiers were silent, there was nothing they could do at all. Arrows would most likely not reach her, and it'd be a meat grinder should she decide to go after them. As much as they wished to do something, their fear had gotten the best of them.

It was painfully fast how the king had lost the engagement and fell to the ground, still conscious, but it was not over for the queen. She didn't even celebrate or laugh. As soon as the king's head met the floor, she turned to Nuri, who was writhing in pain on the floor, and walked up to her. Quietly laughing to herself, she grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up.

"Pathetic and foolish, this one." The vampire muttered while removing Nuri's helmet and throwing it aside.

The sound of a certain metallic instrument sliding across the floor had gained the vampire's attention, however. It was not the helmet, it was something else. She turned her head to the source of the sound, only to find a dagger that had not even reached her. Looking higher, she noticed Richard violently coughing and trying to remain in place with his arms.

"Come back here, you pale-ass whore!" He yelled. The amount of pain he had endured was showing by how much his voice cracked. "I'm still alive, bitch!"

"Hardly worth the effort, but..." The vampire whispered to herself while throwing Nuri aside.

In the blink of an eye, she had travelled the distance from Nuri to directly in front of Richard, startling him with her speed.

Without even able to gasp, he was grabbed by the neck and lifted once more. This time, he could not move. Not only was his body in too much pain to even move properly, the pain cause by his neck muscles supporting his entire body weight had already pushed him to his limit.

"You have fought against the rattlesnake, true?" She taunted him. "Heard something in particular? You'd know. ...Gnomaren!"

"...Gnomaren?" He questioned, barely able to breathe. It was now that he realized what the rattlesnake truly said. She didn't say 'No morning', she had said 'Gnomaren', although the meaning unknown to him.

Before he could even think further, the grip on his neck tightened to an incredible degree. What little he could breathe was completely cut off and blocked. He could feel how his muscles went numb, and painfully fast how his mind went numb. Such was the strength of the grip that blood circulation itself was cut off.

In the span of a few seconds, his mind weakened further and further until he could not see at all, he could not feel pain, he could no longer remember anything. He passed out in an instant.

* * *

Minutes ago...

"What do I do... What do I do...!?" Ryada desperately questioned herself while hidden below the furniture in a corner of the throne room, seeing Richard, Nuri, and the King fighting a losing battle against the vampire queen.

At this pace they'd lose, it was clear to everyone. It was so one-sided that even though it just started, it was already decided. They could not land a single hit on the queen, she dodged them all with ease.

Directly, there weren't many options for her to take. To jump on the vampire would be suicidal and a burden, it was obvious to her. She tried thinking and thinking to no avail, but still kept the soldier's words in her mind. She had to look everywhere instead of focusing in a single point.

That's when she realized she had been focusing on the vampire alone. Trying to solve this, she decided to think in a different way. She was in the castle, obviously, but had to find something of importance that'd aid her and the rest. She remembered how, long ago, the captive monsters were held in the dungeon, but they were monsters nonetheless. They once followed the queen, and they'd follow her again, she thought.

Trying to figure out another way yielded no results. The rest of the castle didn't have much of interest, it was a castle after all, not a sacred temple. To get out and seek aid was also ruled out; even if there was enough time to do so, there wouldn't really be anything that had more chances than the hundreds of soldiers. Painfully enough, they had no chance against the Queen of the vampires.

She gave a sigh of defeat and decided to move from below the furniture and sneak into the dungeon. Her small size allowed her to move unnoticed by the vampire, or by anyone for that matter.

* * *

Ryada walked down the torch-lit hallway of the dungeon, a small prison by any name. Understandably, she was afraid of this place, to the point where her legs didn't allow her to walk any faster. There was only one way forward through the dungeon's hall covered in cells, there was only one single hall, there was no way of getting lost.

Once she almost reached one of the cells, she stopped walking. She mustered whatever courage she had, gulped, and slowly stepped forward while shaking.

Slowly, the interior of the cell came to sight as she walked. Further and further, more of the cell was revealed until Ryada saw a monster lying against the wall. Sleeping, she thought. Curious but still afraid, she stepped forward to the bars of the cell. It was a lizard girl, a monster who, for all intents and purposes, had the same physical appearance as a young woman but with great feet and hands covered in green scales and a tail covered the same, not unlike Nuri, who was the same save for red scales and fire on her tail. Lizard girls and Salamanders were not that far off in appearance, as if they were close relatives regarding species.

Ryada's expression slowly changed from curiosity to horror at a steady pace once she saw dried blood on the lizard's stomach. There was no sign of another source, and it had a great wound in its stomach.

The lizard was dead. Killed.

Ryada, coming to that revelation, had no more options than to endure the fear and desire to throw up, and keep walking forward. Despite wanting to run away and never return, she still had something to do. Thus, she kept walking forward.

Cautious, she did the same procedure with the second cell. She walked slower and looked at it, vigilant of anything that may appear.

As soon as she stepped forward, she could see something sitting right next to the bars, behind them, leaning against the wall where she walked from. It seemed to move slightly, breathing.

She decided to walk a few steps away from the cell before she could notice her presence, unsure if it would attempt to grab her through the bars, just to be on the safe side. Once at a safe distance, she began walking to the front of the cell. Her fear didn't even allow her to call for her attention or even talk, thus, having to resort to another solution.

"Hello, rat girl." The monster greeted once she noticed Ryada in front of her cell.

It was a coyote girl. A woman covered completely in fur with paws for feet and hands, with legs that seemed more like a dog than a human in anatomy. Instead of human ears, she had those of a dog. She had a bandage going around her head covering her right eye, with stains of blood over the bandage. Her left eye was the same as a human, but with the iris being bright yellow, almost crystal-like.

"Long time no see." She continued with a hint of sorrow.

"A-are you... Okay?" Ryada questioned, having seen a dead monster in the cell right next to hers, and noticing the bandage over her eye.

"Yes. For now, anyways."

"What happened?"

The coyote was silent, lowering her head as she thought and lamented her own actions.

"Do you really expect the truth from our kind?"

Ryada was silent. Her question had left her confused.

Noticing her silence, the coyote sighed.

"We're being killed off one by one." She explained, raising her head and resting it against the wall. "You were here when the king interrogated me, I remember well. I told them everything. I thought I'd have another chance to live. I've known Nuri for a while, and to see her with the humans as if she was one of them... Coexisting... Well, I thought he was the real king, but turns out she was the vampire queen. Now... We're being punished with death for our betrayal."

Ryada remained silent.

"Tell me, what's happening now? For you to come here alone, I may not know you, but the first time I've seen you, you seemed like you'd never be separated from that armored knight."

"The king- The real king and the rest are fighting against the vampire."

The coyote's eye widened in surprise. It was enough to make her suddenly move closer to the bars and hold onto them while looking at the direction where the dungeon exit was located. This startled Ryada, making her take a few steps back. However, the coyote's expression changed from surprise to sorrow again.

"Are they losing?" She questioned, already expecting the worst.

Ryada lowered her head and nodded.

The coyote's spirit lowered. She returned to her previous position against the wall, resting and defeated.

"We could fight against her." She muttered. "All of us. We'll die if she wins... The king and the rest probably sent everything they had too, and they're losing."

Ryada heard her words. As the coyote expected, she began thinking on whether her words were true or not. Everyone had thought the king was not an impostor, yet they were completely deceived. Now she didn't have proof to trust the coyote. On one hand she could have said the truth, but on the other she might as well be working with the vampire and simply aims to make sure their victory is achieved.

The coyote banged her head against the wall once she noticed Ryada deep in her thoughts. The small but noticeable thud managed to grab her attention.

"You're smarter than what your size implies." The coyote spoke. "Whoever trusts monsters like us with just that alone is a complete idiot. Listen, rat girl, you must find another way to help them. I know you don't trust us, but that doesn't matter. Leave us here if you must, but don't waste your time."

"...I won't find another solution in time." Ryada stated, painfully aware of how the fight against the vampire would develop.

The coyote sighed again.

"It's up to you to decide what to do." The coyote explained. "I won't force you to do anything. We're already suffering the consequences of that vampire after it tempted us. If I were to try to convince you, I'd be acting the same way as that vampire."

"I... I don't know what to do..."

"You better take a decision soon. I can already feel some thuds, probably something impacting against a wall."

"How can I know that I won't take the wrong decision?"

"You can't. We can't. Nobody can. There is no way to tell until the consequences are already there. The only thing you can do is believe that you won't regret the choice you have made. I made a decision, I couldn't foresee the outcome, and now I'm regretting what I chose, but I chose it believing it was the best decision."

Ryada remained silent, bearing the weight of taking a decision she knew nothing about on her shoulders. The coyote was silent too, having nothing else to do nor to say but wait for what her decision would be.

Ryada took a deep breath and decided on a path. She turned around and walked away, with her choice firmly taken and following it to the end.

The coyote, understandably, was sorrowful at Ryada's decision. She could do nothing to help, but deep down she was content that at the very least the rat girl took a decision on her own, even if it meant a greater risk. The only thing that circled her mind now was the silent prayer that the battle would be won, despite the queen's power.

Even more thoughts rushed to her mind after that. Even if the vampire queen was defeated, deep down her heart was aching, she wondered if her kind would ever be trusted again, or if they'd meet the end of their days where they are imprisoned, since they'd not be able to prove themselves worthy of redemption.

The only thing that broke her out of her thoughts was the rustle of a few small metallic objects moving closer and closer.

"Coyote, coyote!" Ryada exclaimed, running to her cell. Once in place, she threw a key chain full of keys inside. "Hurry, they're not going to last long!"

The coyote's spirit was resurrected, jumping on her feet while grabbing the key chain with a great smile of hope being recovered. Immediately, she looked for and found the key of her cell, placing the key in the lock and spinning it, allowing her to push the bars aside and let her free.

"I don't know if I will regret this or not... But they will lose without your aid anyways."

"Mark my words, rat girl." The coyote exclaimed while extending her hand towards her, allowing her to climb up to her shoulder. "You will not regret this."

Quickly, the coyote separated the keys from the key chain and threw them into their respective cells as she ran by, allowing the monsters inside to free themselves. Unfortunately, they weren't many. More than forty monsters once were in the dungeon because of the raiders and the remnants in the cave, but now only eight remained. It was frightening to think about, but heartwarming to see the remaining ones leave.

"Rise, my sisters, we still have one thing left to do." The coyote spoke up while the seven monsters gathered their weapons that were locked away.

Ryada was left in awe. Despite her size and strength being equivalent to a normal rat, her actions had resulted in no less than eight monsters joining her side.

"The few times I've seen you," The coyote spoke up while grabbing a spear that was handed to her. "I have not seen you talking at all. This is the first time I hear your voice."

"I... Didn't think I'd be useful."

"Hey." The coyote exclaimed while gently pushing her finger into her belly with every word she spoke. "You got eight monsters fighting for you now, and it was all your doing. Don't let your size dictate who you are."

* * *

The King's spirit was weakened, along with his body and mind. He was left desperately fighting a lost battle, panting and exhausted standing against the vampire, who was unfazed and simply staring at him. He could barely hold his sword, forced to let the extreme rest on the floor. Nuri and Richard were already unconscious, he was the only one left standing.

"I had thought you'd put up more of a fight, king. After all, you defeated quite a lot of my vampires." The queen spoke, laughing to herself.

The queen took one step forward. The king took one step back with his sword high. He was sure that defeat was imminent, but he still wished to fight on rather than accept defeat that easily.

"Queen!" A voice called from the dungeon. From the dungeon, seven monsters rushed to the place where the queen and the king made their stand. This managed to grab both combatants' attention.

The king, understandably, was shaken. He took stance against the monsters, but was left dumbfounded once the monsters surrounded the vampire with their weapons aimed at her.

"How did the lot of you escape?!" The queen questioned violently.

The coyote, who was simply walking out of the dungeon with Ryada on her shoulder, laughed while spinning the key chain on her paw's fingers.

"Didn't see that one coming, did you?" She questioned. Then, she turned to the king. "Fear not, we're on the same side."

"...Where's Richard? And Nuri?" Ryada questioned, not seeing them fighting next to the king.

"True." The coyote remarked. "Wasn't the knight fighting here?"

The king was even more shaken, his expression sunk to one of deep grief knowing how Ryada would react upon finding the answer to her questions. He could not even bring himself to answer it.

His fear became true once Ryada found Richard and Nuri motionless against a wall, both of them almost lifeless, but she could not tell. The impact of the scene had already made her fear the worst.

"...Richard!" She screamed high enough for her voice to crack while jumping down the coyote's shoulder and rushing to his side.

Once she arrived to his side, she desperately began pushing and pulling his helmet. "Richard... Richard! Wake up! Richard!"

Even the coyote was struck by such event. She had found Nuri lying close to Richard and walked up to her, all while Ryada desperately tried waking Richard up to no avail. She looked down at Nuri who lied on the ground without her helmet, with a small trickle of blood coming out of her mouth.

"Nuri..." The coyote whispered to herself. Even as she turned her sight to Richard, the only thing she saw was his motionless body and Ryada who held her head with both her hands, silently crying to herself.

They both feared they were dead.

The coyote's expression turned from sorrow to anger. Knowing that there was something that remained, she turned to the monsters who surrounded the queen. Combat had not yet begun, for they were all seeing everything unfold.

"Kill her!" The coyote ordered to the monsters.

The monsters raised their spears and swords to the air and gave a war cry before engaging the vampire. They lunged forward, only for the vampire to quickly spin on her own and strike them all with her cape, throwing them aside. But it was monsters who she was fighting against, that simple strike alone would not bring them down. As quickly as they fell, they stood up again and charged once more against her.

However, as combat developed, something brought it to a complete halt. A fragment of the castle's ceiling, despite being hardened by stone and other materials, gave in and collapsed, resulting in the giant ceiling fragments falling down below with a great amount of dust following them, causing the moonlight that snuck in to illuminate the dust and form a ray of moonlight that reached down to the ground.

Among the boulders, once the dust settled down, a strange silhouette could be seen standing up. This sudden event was enough to make everyone stare in confusion and disbelief, for neither side even planned, let alone expected, such situation. The strange being's traits could now be clearly seen. It seemed like a humanoid lizard, with green scales and strange ears, covering what was not scaled skin in armor, with a purple cape following her. It was a monster girl, for sure. Her eyes could be seen through the dust, bright yellow eyes that could pierce anyone's soul. She also had short, red hair and a metallic piece of headgear that seemed like a headband that passed right above her eyes, giving her a perpetual frown.

It was not a lizard. It was a dragon.

"G-...Granberia?!" The queen exclaimed, certainly shocked.

"One of the four knights..." The coyote whispered to herself in awe.

"Queen." Granberia spoke while unsheathing her sword. "Your betrayal to the Monster Lord will not be forgiven."

"...A-As if!" The queen continued, losing her composure completely. "I can kill you this instant! Begone!"

"Go ahead." Granberia challenged her, flaring up her sword with great flames.

The vampire queen was shaken, all while the king and the seven monsters stepped back. Clearly, this would be an engagement between the two alone.

Ryada did not understand what was going on. She did not know about the four heavenly knights, only hearing about the Monster Lord. She had been raised in the Forest of Spirits, after all, and a simple rat girl at that. There was something more important to her now than simply staring, however. Having a small fraction of hope, she opened Richard's visor and moved closer to his mouth. He was breathing, he was alive, and Nuri too was alive after checking her.

"Coyote!" Ryada called for her attention while rushing to Richard's side once more. "Help me over here!"

The coyote noticed what she wanted to do and called for her monsters. Even a group of soldiers rushed to her side. A small number of soldiers, just as the fight began, picked Richard up while a few of the seven monsters did the same with Nuri. The two groups quickly rushed out of the throne room with them, they would be safer away from the battle.

They dragged them away to the small room that preceded the throne room, right at the entrance of the castle itself. Nuri and Richard were softly placed on the ground and allowed to rest. The monsters quickly disassembled Nuri's armor and took it away to allow her to breathe with ease, but the humans had more difficulty with Richard's armor.

"I can't get it off!" One of the soldiers exclaimed.

"Is it dented?" The coyote questioned, moving closer with Ryada.

"No, all the pieces are connected to each other, I can't get it off, it's like a puzzle! It was made hard to take off on purpose! We're going to need a blacksmith to tear it open!"

"There's no time." Another soldier stated, standing up. "He will have to deal with that."

"And even if there was time," One of the soldiers who was desperately blocking the door with himself along with four others exclaimed with great irritation. There were other forces, loyal to the impostor king who had not yet been revealed to the others, trying to break in. They still didn't know of the vampire's impersonation. "It's not like we're going to be able to walk outside to call for one! Hey, what's happening in the throne room? I can't see anything from here, thing's getting louder!"

"One of the four knights arrived to our aid." The coyote stated, smiling.

"What?!" The soldier exclaimed in utter disbelief.

"I'm as surprised as you are. She's fighting the queen as we speak. Assuming by your lack of reaction upon seeing me, you already know that us prisoners are on your side now."

"Yeah, figured. Not that hard to guess when we're not being killed or raped." He stated, rolling his eyes.

His expression changed from irritation to utter horror once he looked at the door frame that led to the throne room.

"Get down!" He yelled, throwing himself aside along with the other four soldiers aiding him in blocking the door.

Not a second later, the queen arrived flying and broke through the door. She was not escaping either, she was thrown. What's more, she ended up landing among those outside.

A moment later, Granberia walked through the room where they were, only stopping to see Richard unconscious. After that, she walked outside to the crowd in the night and, before the vampire could even gather the strength to stand up, stepped on her to keep her down. Everyone was struck, speechless and simply staring in disbelief.

"Betrayal is the worst crime you can commit, vampire." Granberia stated before driving her flaming sword into the vampire's heart.

Through the castle entrance, the king, injured, walked outside. He was all too ready to explain what had happened.

Back inside, the coyote stood up and smiled at Ryada.

"Do you regret your decision?" She asked her.

"Not at all." Ryada answered, smiling back at her.

"That's what matters."

"Say, what's your name?"

The coyote snickered.

"You're the first one asking my name in this kingdom. It's Yara. Yours?"

"Ryada."

"Beautiful name. What's the knight's name?"

"Richard."

* * *

Richard could barely open his eyes. He was still too disoriented and his body aching. What little he could open his eyes gave him a small slit to look through to what was directly in front of him, blurred. He was lying over something solid, above ground level. A table, he thought. He ended up looking at the ceiling, giving him a strange vibe due to this place not being the castle. He did not have enough strength to even move his head, so he simply moved his eyes around to see through his helmet's visor.

He could see something moving. It was a man, although he could not distinguish who it was, or if he even knew him. His eyes were almost glued shut by exhaustion, not allowing him to see properly, but what little he could see was man raising a strange saw. He could see how the silhouette of the man looked at the saw and then looked at him, as if he planned to use that saw against him. His theory was true once the man slowly moved the saw closer and closer to him.

Richard snapped once he sensed the threat, all of a sudden sitting up and grabbing the man's arm and his neck with great strength, with adrenaline already burning through his veins and his eyes wide open. The man was left motionless, completely frightened.

Merely a second passed until Richard realized it was the blacksmith. He turned his head around to see his surroundings, noticing he was surrounded by several soldiers, with Nuri and Ryada among them. Even a coyote girl. All were silent, they had thought Richard was completely unconscious a second ago, and now they saw him spark to life.

"What." Richard questioned, letting go of the blacksmith.

"Well, he's alright." Nuri stated while snickering. Everyone else followed with a quiet laughter.

"You're going to give me a heart attack, boy." The blacksmith said, bringing his hand to his chest.

"What's going on? Where am I?"

"Can't you tell?" Nuri questioned, dropping her hand on top of his helmet with enough strength to make his helmet shake. "In the blacksmith's store."

"I would be able to tell if it wasn't for everyone and, you know, just waking up."

As he rearranged his helmet, through he visor he saw Ryada's head appear from above, upside down. Clearly she was hanging from the top of the helmet and merely looking into Richard's eyes.

"Hey." She greeted him.

"...Hey."

"You have no idea how much you worried me back then, do you?" She questioned, trying to hold back her tears. It was understandable, she had feared the worst when she saw both Nuri and Richard lying on the floor immobile back in the castle.

"I... Uhhh..."

"Give him some rest, Ryada." The coyote laughed while picking her up by her tail, much to her discontent. "He had to fight directly, didn't he?"

"Hey! Put me down."

"Fine." The coyote answered with a smile, leaving her on Richard's shoulder.

"So... What happened?" Richard questioned. The last thing he remembered was being choked to the point he fell unconscious. "And who are you, coyote?"

"My name is Yara. The king would be here to see you but he's far too busy trying to fix everything, you see. We were prisoners, as you might remember. Ryada came to the dungeon and freed us to fight for your side, quite a smart decision once you learn the full story. Afterwards, one of the Four Heavenly Knights arrived."

"What!? One of the knights!? How did you lot even defeat her!?"

"We didn't. She fought for us, for the king against the vampire. I'm as surprised as you are. It seems that the queen had no connection to the Monster Lord at all, despite what I've heard, since the Knight killed her for betraying the Monster Lord herself. That... Or she was following someone who wished to become the Monster Lord."

He allowed the thought sink into his mind. There were monsters that did not answer to the Monster Lord, those that rebelled against her. He had thought that all monsters answered to her, and her alone. He had thought that the Monster Lord watched over all monsters, but now he began thinking that her grip wasn't strong enough to keep everyone in the world in check. Worse yet, the San Ilia and Sabasa events had no connection to the Monster Lord. For Richard, this meant that the Monster Lord was incredibly strong physically, not but in leadership. He could not have it any other way.

"A 'Black Alice'?"

"A 'Black Alice'."

"Do you know who she is?"

"Unfortunately, no."

"Tsk... How did the knight kill the vampire?"

"It was painful to watch the knight fight. It was almost as if the vampire couldn't even do anything against her. The queen lost in a few seconds and the knight rammed her sword into her heart. It was a dragon, too."

"A dragon?!" Both Nuri and Richard exclaimed.

"Imagine our surprise when we saw her." Yara continued. "And she didn't just walk through the door either, she broke through the ceiling. It was a spectacle."

"A dragon... Remind me, is the Monster Lord the strongest monster in this world?"

"Indeed. Hard to imagine someone stronger than a dragon."

"Was that knight really a dragon?"

"Yes."

"I don't even know what's going on anymore." He ranted, throwing himself against the table once more to rest. Slowly, the muscle pain began catching up with him. "If someone were kind enough to drag me to the inn..."

"Well, if you insist..." Nuri stated while grabbing Richard by his arm and torso, lifting him up and placing him over her shoulders, all the while Ryada moved from his shoulder to Nuri's head. For her, it felt like nothing despite her body aching the same as Richard, for she was far stronger than humans even after receiving such a beating.

"You're lucky no one's outside right now." The coyote remarked.

"What do you mean?" Richard questioned.

"There were a lot of people outside moments ago to see if the two of you were alright. We had to disperse them, mostly because we didn't know if you were going to take a long nap. They see you as a hero, and for good reasons too."

"But we lost. One of the knights had to come here to save us."

"Does that matter? I was told you already knew you were going to lose against the vampire, yet you fought anyways. It's not your strength or agility or anything that you have that makes you a hero, it's your courage. Or in San Ilian terms, your discipline. Do you believe anyone would have done what you did?"

"I... Guess you're right. Didn't view it that way..."

"And guess what?" Nuri spoke while walking to the door. "Your training and armor might as well be the things that kept me alive."

"We all did something." Ryada stated. "I think all this served to learn more of ourselves."

Easily enough, she carried Richard out the door to the streets, where only the torches and the moonlight lit the way. Not long had passed since the vampire's death.

"Guess we won." Nuri stated with a devious smile, now walking towards the inn. "Shouldn't we... 'Celebrate'?"

"I know what you're thinking, you're not going to convince me."

"Convince you, hm?"

His words echoed inside her mind. She thought about it for a while and actually imagined how it'd be if Richard himself allowed her to do as she pleased instead of achieving it herself with her strength once she surpassed him in combat. Only then did she realize just how much she'd enjoy it if she could convince him, and thus, made it her objective instead of outright raping him. She knew it'd take far longer, but for her, it was worth it.

"Are we going to Noah now?" Ryada questioned, realizing that there was nothing remaining for them in Sabasa.

"Hey, you're right..." Nuri remarked. "Are we going to Noah, Richard? I want to see the snow."

"Oh for the love of Heinrich, at least let me rest a few days. We'll go after that."


	8. Chapter 8: Roots

From her perch on the tabletop Ryada raised her own tiny mug to her mouth and a swallowed what remaining mead ran down her throat. After a final few chugs, she lowered the mug and let free a sigh of relief before wiping dry her mouth with the back of her hand. Sat opposite her was Nuri, holding her own mug of mead.

"So..." Ryada chimed, returning to the conversation they were having. "'Convince' him?"

It was only yesterday that the assault against the castle took place. Right now, it was the morning of the following day.

"You want to 'convince' him?" Ryada continued, smiling at Nuri with her eyes half open, giving the slightest appearance of a taunt.  
"What brought you to that conclusion?"

"You know..." Nuri began explaining, raising her right hand to her cheek and shifting her eyes to the side. "Trying to force my way would not be as rewarding as having him make the advance. At least if I could convince him, he'd enjoy it too."

Ryada simply tilted her head, dropping her smile and staring skeptically over at Nuri. Her eyes still half closed.

Nuri, upon seeing her reaction, lowered her head in shame.

"I don't know how to take off his armor." She conceded.

Ryada snickered and brought her mug towards her.

"You want him to do all the work?"

"...Are you drunk?" Nuri asked, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes.

"Pff, I might be." Ryada stuttered, gulping down the last few dregs of mead in her mug.

"You're a lightweight." Nuri commented with a calm laugh.

Ryada merely lowered her mug, just enough for her to see Nuri over the top. Her eyes hinting annoyance.

A voice broke the broiling air between the two. It belonged to a stranger; interrupting them both with his arrival upon the table at which they sat. "Excuse me." He spoke out. "Where might I find Richard?"

"He's asleep upstairs." Ryada replied, turning her head around to the Sabasan. "Need anything?"

Nuri decided to stay out of the situation, savouring the opportunity to watch how Ryada would handle it, half drunk.

"Yes, as a matter of fact." He answered, turning his attention to the bag he carried over his shoulder, opening it and searching about inside. With some rummaging, the messenger managed to produce a roll of paper. "I have here a letter for Richard. You must be Ryada and Nuri. I ask of you to give this letter to him, upon his waking."

"Alright." Ryada stated, placing her tiny mug on the table and standing up. "Give." She ordered, extending her arms.

The messenger stared long at the grasping Ryada. The letter in his hand almost as big as her. Confusion creeping in, he anxiously turned his sights to Nuri, who was by now covering her mouth in an effort to keep her laughter from escaping. Once she noticed the messenger's sheepish eyes prying her for assistance, Nuri simply nodded at him, indicating he was to figure this out himself, much to her amusement. Without many options remaining, the messenger awkwardly handed the rolled letter to Ryada, who took hold of it with both of her arms. Unfortunately, the roll of paper was too bulky for Ryada to handle on her own, prompting her to dizzily drop it on the table.

Nuri's snickering was now easily audible through her clasped hands.

"With that, I'll take my leave." The messenger stated before turning and swiftly walking away from the table.

"See you." Nuri spoke up, moving one of her hands away from her mouth. As soon as she had finished seeing off the messenger, Nuri brought her attention back to Ryada; grunting with deliberation at trying to open the letter. "You're going to read it?" She asked.

"I don't see why not."

For Nuri, Ryada's logic was flawless. She merely shrugged off doubt and stretched the letter open. Placing her mug on the top end of it, while Ryada stood on the bottom end, allowing her read out its contents.

"Alright..." Ryada whispered to herself while clearing her throat, now ready to read. "Richard Thomas Taylor-Smith Lawrence. I'd like to begin this letter by saying that your disproportionately long name was not at all easy to write, and I apologize if it was written incorrectly. I have heard of the deeds you performed in Sabasa. They have gained quite a bit of attention in the Gold region, thanks to what Granberia has told us. I assume you have since been told about her appearance. She reports you were unconscious at the time she appeared. I am thoroughly fascinated by your San Ilian discipline, your two comrades have shown the same fortitude in their stay. It would be greatly appreciated if you make the trip to Gold, should the opportunity present itself to you. Your presence will be most welcome. If you do happen to come by, I assume you will be able to find me easily enough on your own. Signed by... Victoria Zafiro."

"Two others?" Nuri questioned, unaware of the remaining unbaptized.

"Yes, two others. There are four more like Richard. Two went to Gold, and two to Noah. You remember, right?"

"Only knew about the ones that went off to Noah. Are they like Richard?"

"Most likely. I saw them when Richard found me, they seemed like brothers, the way they behaved."

"How so?"

"They were hunting monsters. They spotted me. Richard caught me and decided to keep me safe. Suddenly, the rest agreed with him. One tried to have me killed. A crossbowman shot him. Seems like they hated the guy. They're San Ilian; not really the most tolerant of humans, that's what surprises me more."

"I see."

"Well." Ryada started, bringing one hand to her waist and the other up to scratch her head. "Looks like we have another reason to go to Gold too. Have you heard anything of it?"

"Monster and humans coexist together in that kingdom, as far as I know. I've only heard rumors. I want to go there almost as much as I want to go to Noah... I've never seen monsters and humans live together as a kingdom, I want to see how it would be if monsters behaved among humans like us and Richard."

"...Really?!" Ryada questioned, surprised.

"Really. If we were to go there with Richard, nobody would notice anything strange. It'd be that common."

"It's decided then! We'll go to Gold after Noah!" Ryada chirped with excitement.

Nuri gave a pause. "You certainly seem sure of your decision, despite Richard not even knowing."

"It's not like we'd be able to go to Gold first with the mountain line to the north."

"Touché."

* * *

A few hours had passed, that same day. Richard was making work of lifting one of their bags, containing the supplies required to travel from Sabasa to Noah and placing it behind his horse's saddle, over which Ryada would sit. After that, he tied the bag to the saddle to keep it sat in place.

"Kind of the king to donate this." He whispered to himself.

Standing behind him was Nuri, staring off at her familiar surroundings and embracing it with a last few lungfulls of it's sun-baked air. The thought that she'd soon be leaving, without the possibility of returning for a good while had already wormed it's way through to her mind.

"I'm going to miss this place." She remarked.

"You'll miss the weather once you step into the cold lands of Noah." Richard earnestly added, perhaps overooking the effect the sobering atmosphere was having.

"Does it snow there?" Nuri asked quickly, trying to draw her attention away from the homesick feeling, knotting in her chest.

"In the cities themselves it's not that common, we'll probably not see any. The mountains to the north, though, are perpetually covered in snow, but they're past Plansect. It's not even that cold in Noah, it's just colder because it's closer to the northern mountains, but that's it. If it doesn't snow in Noah, we'll go to the mountains. I've yet to see snow too, to be honest."

Richard fastened the belt that would hold everything in place and clapped his gauntlets, as if congratulating himself for a job well done. Afterwards he placed both hands on the saddle and a foot on the stirrup. With a swift movement, he jumped up the horse, with Ryada climbing up to his shoulder once he was done. He then extended his hand to Nuri, who grabbed it and used the stirrup to jump up with him.

"Nothing forgotten?" He questioned.

"Nothing." Both Ryada and Nuri answered back.

Without delay, Richard commanded the horse to move with the reins. Their next destination would be Noah.

* * *

After only a short time, it was clear to the three of them that they had left Sabasa entirely. The slow yet noticeable change from a desertic region to the grassy lands of Natalia was evident. They had chosen another path to Noah, going in close to the mountains, on account of their expulsion from the kingdom of San Ilia. However, one location in particular gained their atttention, one they failed to notice until they were face to face with it, as if distracted by their own thoughts.

The Forest of Spirits.

Knowing very well the monster they had heard about would be inside, and having not yet aquired the knowlege to check if it was still nearby, the three of them decided on walking around it. From their position out in the open field, a gaze cast into the forest yielded them only gnarled trees and thick, compromising shrubbery. Vision was capped at half a kilometre, at it's very best.

It was Ryada, however, who kept staring at the forest without rest while the others didn't find interest in it.

"Richard." Ryada quietly called for him.

"Hm?"

"...Can we go through the forest?"

"Why? What about the monster?"

"We can run from it if we see it. I just... Want to see something."

Confused, Richard merely turned his sight to Nuri, who shared his thoughts. She simply shrugged, having no complaints about following Ryada's suggestion.

Richard turned the direction of his horse to the forest and began to move inside.

The forest gave both Nuri and Richard a creepy feeling despite its rather charming look. The great amount of trees, coupled with the vegetation, emphasized the feeling of claustrophobia they had, seeing nothing but green. Even the trees' bark was covered in thin moss, hiding their colour and replacing it. Everywhere they looked, they could see nothing else.

"We're close." Ryada stated. She had recognized the place they were currently walking through. "I used to live with my family further ahead."

"...Family?" Richard questioned.

It was a surprise to him that she had been living with her family. It wasn't long ago since the time he decided to take her under his care and leave the forest, with her willingness to do so leaving him with the assumption that she had nothing she wished to retain. She was leaving with a stranger at the time, too, which left him with more confusion.

"Why didn't you object to leaving with me if you had a family?"

"I... I was afraid." She answered, lowering her head in shame. "I couldn't bring myself to return... Still, the tree I used to live in isn't too far, just ahead."

"You used to live 'in' a tree?" Nuri questioned, confused.

"In an opening through the roots of a tree, diging inside. It was like a cave with a fancy door."

"...Oh."

"What were you imagining?"

"Well, I don't know anything about rats. I wasn't even picturing anything, just confused."

"How far ahead?" Richard asked.

"Not far, I'll tell you when we arrive." Ryada answered.

"...Richard?" Nuri called for his attention.

"What now?"

"You know how you sometimes get the feeling you're being watched?"

"The elves probably know of our presence."

"What if it's the monster?"

"Keep vigilant, then. If-"

The sudden sight of a strange, small being flying in front of him interrupted his words and forced him to pull the reins of his horse out of reflex, making it stop immediately. He, along with Ryada and Richard, followed with their sight the small creature dancing on the wind. It wasn't until it slowed down enough that they saw how it was similar to a tiny girl with butterfly wings.

A fairy.

It kept flying, circling the three of them until she joined another group of two fairies and floated in the air. They started mumbling to eachother, but the only thing Richard could manage to comprehend were the words 'second human'.

The three fairies, before Richard could even think of doing anything, quickly scattered and flew away. He and Nuri were left dumbfounded, save for Ryada who, having lived here, was used to it.

"You were able to see them." Ryada remarked. "For some reason not many humans can."

Silent due to the fairies' appearance and Ryada's words, Richard made the horse walk forward again.

After a while, they reached a point in the forest where looking back they could not see the open fields anymore. Every opening for sight to sneak through was blocked by the trees and vegetation. A truly frightening scene for the lost.

"We're here." Ryada stated.

At her words, Richard forced the horse to a halt, allowing her to jump down to the ground. Following her steps, Nuri and Richard dismounted. Ryada walked up to an giant, old dying tree with its roots visible for a small distance around. She stood there, staring at it and letting just the wind be the source of noise.

"Did you live here?" Nuri questioned, moving closer.

"Yes." She answered, lowering her sight to a small crevice in the roots and the ground. For her, it felt like an eternity had passed since the last time she was there.

She took a deep breath and marched into the crevice through the roots, all while Richard and Nuri awaited outside.

Richard simply stared at the entrance of the old tree, sometimes staring around to look out for movement. Nuri just looked to the skies, staring at how tall the trees were and how the small rays of light snuck through the leaves of the treetops.

"What do you think will happen?" Nuri asked, curious.

"About?"

"She has a family here. Do you think she'll stay?"

"I don't know. Up to her."

"What if she stays?"

Richard remained silent.

"I guess I'll be happy she got to chose, at least." He answered after a while. "What about you?"

"I'll miss her. Not even a month passed since I met her, but I know I'll miss her."

"Do you have a family?"

"Why do you ask?"

"You decided to follow me with the same determination as her, although with different reasons."

"Did I...?" She sighed. "No, I guess not."

"Why is that?"

"...I'll tell you another day, alright?"

Richard, before he could keep conversating, could very well hear the sound of leaves rustling, far too violently to be the wind. By instinct, he and Nuri took out their shield and drew his sword while looking for the source of the sound high above.

Elves.

Over the branches of the giant trees, elves stared down at Richard and Nuri with their bows fully drawn.

"Ah fuck..." Richard ranted, feeling that the time when he told Tallius the elves killed the guard captain came to punish him for his lie. Fearing a fight, he raised his shield in front of him and gripped his sword tighter.

From the woods, another elf arrived walking. An elf not unlike the others, with long, chestnut hair and blue eyes, simply holding a sword with her bow on her back. Richard knew she most likely was the leader of the group, seeing as her weapon of choice was far different than the others and the fact that she moved closer to them instead of standing on the tree branches.

The elf, like any other monster, stared at Richard with lust. Her intelligence, on the other hand, made her decide not to try anything, for it was clear Richard would fight instead of being seduced like other humans. Not only that, Nuri, a Salamander, was by his side. The only thing the elves would gain was blood of the human and salamander, and of their own kind.

"What are you doing here?" The elf questioned.

"We mean no harm." Richard answered.

"Leave. Now."

"Not yet." He answered back, this time with more determination while raising his shield up to his mouth, aware that the elves would not stop until he left.

The elf raised her hand, ready to signal the others to fire.

"This is your last warning." She stated.

The forest was engulfed by the silence at that point. Richard merely delayed his answer simply to get more time for Ryada, with Nuri having the same intentions.

What broke the silence, however, were the small steps of Ryada walking out of the tree's crevice. Such was the silence that even the grass being moved by her movements could be heard.

Their attention caught, Nuri, Richard and the elf turned their sights towards the rat girl.

Richard felt his heart almost tearing outside of his chest once she saw Ryada raising her head to him, with tears running down her cheeks, mouth slightly open and eyes filled with sorrow and despair. She was silent, but he could very well hear her silent screams of agony just by looking at her expression.

"-Ryada!" Richard screamed, dropping his sword and falling to his knees towards Ryada, while Nuri rushed to her side throwing her helmet aside, with almost the same expression as Ryada, worrying about what she had witnessed.

"...Ryada?" The elf questioned, knowing who the rat girl was. Her confusion was aimed at Richard knowing who she was.

Richard had no courage to ask what had happened, but he already knew too well what would have made her have such reaction. He extended his hand towards her with an open palm, allowing her to slowly climb over without strength. Slowly, he raised her to under his hood and covered her with his hand to protect her and give her comfort. With the hand he was gripping the straps of his shield, he picked up his sword and stood up.

Ryada clung to his chainmail scarf, silent and crying.

"How-" The elf attempted to question, slowly lowering her hand so as not to give the archers the order to fire, yet interrupted by Richard.

"You want us to leave? Fine. Thanks for the heartwarming welcome." He ranted, turning towards his horse.

"Ryada." She stated, quickly saying something that'd surely gain his attention without useless talking. "How do you know her?"

"...Clementine?" Ryada asked the elf as Richard turned to face her, barely able to due to her throat giving in to her sobs.

"Yes, Ryada. It's me."

"Did anyone...?" She could not complete her question, but the elf understood very well what she asked for.

Clementine could not give an answer immediately, fearing how Ryada would react. Still, she was left with no options but to answer the truth, she would not dare lie to her.

"...No." She finally answered in a heartbreaking tone while lowering her head.

Ryada narrowed her eyes in grief with more tears building up, until she dug her head into Richard's chainmail.

"You two know eachother?" Nuri questioned, stepping forward.

"Yes." Clementine answered. "I apologize for the first impression, and my condolences for what happened... My name is Clementine, I am one of the guardians of this forest."

Following her introduction, the elves lowered their bows and jumped down the trees, moving closer to them.

"We are no enemies, and you may forget about our threats, for you have no reasons to harm us."

"And how do you know that?" Richard questioned. "I am not suggesting anything, but you barely know us."

"Her." Clementine answered, pointing at Ryada. "She lived here. You seem to care for her, that is enough reasons for us."

"I see..."

"Did the monster do this?" Nuri asked, unknowing of the perpetrator of Ryada's grief.

"No. Predators. It still causes me confusion the matter of how you knew of her. She'd not be the kind to willingly present herself to outsiders, or anyone at all for that matter."

"Do you know about the three minotaurs? The ones that were in this forest maybe half a month ago, in thepart facing San Ilia?" Richard asked.

"I was not present, but I have heard of it. Around twenty humans fighting against three minotaurs. I assume you were there, true?"

"Yes. After that, me and the remaining humans found Ryada running, frightened. I managed to catch her as she ran, thinking it was a threat. She was frightened enough to tell us to run away and didn't even ask to be returned. That's how I met her, she has been with me ever since then."

"Tragic, but that probably saved her life. Is that salamander with you to the same degree?"

"I'll follow Richard anywhere." Nuri affirmed.

"I see... That would make you, Richard, the second human to arrive with a monster by your side. Two, in this case."

"That would explain the fairies talking about a 'second human' once they saw me."

"You could see them?"

"Yes. I don't know why other humans can't, don't ask me that."

"Intriguing."

"Who was the first human?"

"The first human..." Clementine thought loudly, bringing her hand to her mouth and staring to the side. "Ah, yes." She remembered, returning his sight to Richard. "It was short boy, quite young and holding a strange sword; and a lamia, long crimson tail, slightly blue skin and silver hair."

Richard felt awkward. Her words had caused him to a experience a deja vu, leaving him thinking he knew who she was talking about yet not remembering anything about meeting them, or even hearing of them.

"...You okay, human?" She questioned, unsure of his silence.

"-Yes, I'm alright..."

"May I know your name? It'd be impolite to refer to you by your race."

"Richard." He answered, quickly checking up on Ryada who was simply clinging to his chainmail and lying against it, staring catatonic in front of her.

"Nuri." Nuri answered, giving her name to Clementine.

"Not exactly in the best of occasions, but it's still a pleasure to meet new people."

"I say the same." Richard said. "At least you didn't actually try to kill me."

"You'd act the same if you knew what we have to put up with nowadays. It's not easy being the guardian of a forest of monsters this close to San Ilia-"

"Clementine!" An elf yelled, running up to the group. "The monster is approaching."

Richard and Nuri remained in place in shock at the sudden news, but not surprised. Ryada, at the same time, broke out of her catatonic state and allowed the stream of thoughts to rush into her mind while gripping Richard's chainmail even tighter. Clementine, meanwhile, simply sighed while staring at the sky in annoyance.

"Half a month. Half a fucking month." She ranted. "Has the Monster Lord abandoned us?"

"One thing, though." The elf that arrived explained. "At first, it was wandering aimlessly as ever, but suddenly changed direction with an incredible speed. I thought I was spotted, but it seemed to ignore me entirely and ran to this direction."

"How long ago?"

"Around 20 minutes."

"That's how long ago we entered the forest." Nuri remarked, picking up her helmet and putting it on.

"What did it look like?" Richard asked the elf.

"Hard to describe specifically, but it was like a human woman covered by a giant plant-"

"We have to run away!" Ryada interrupted the elf, pulling Richard's chainmail as she desperately begged him.

"Impossible." The elf continued. "That thing was fast, and I mean fast enough to make me doubt if a horse could outrun it. The only reason I arrived before it was because I shoot its knees, slowing it down. The damned thing kept regenerating, I think I shot its knees five times in total. It'll be here any second now."

The anxiety of the situation engulfed everyone. The silence only served to make it even worse.

"Fuck this." Clementine broke the silence, knowing very well it'd cause more harm than good. "Who needs the monster lord anyways? We'll stand here. Everyone, get ready to meet the monster where it'll come from."

At her command, the elves scattered around and began hiding in the trees to ambush the monster that would arrive.

Richard, with his hand that was over Ryada, pulled her gently enough to grab her with his hand, startling her. He turned to Nuri and handed her to her.

"Keep away." He ordered, making emphasis on his words so as to let them know it was meant to both of them.

"...What? Why? I can fight, you know!"

Ryada, knowing that it was hopeless, just held her head in grief and fear. She was immobile and speechless, boreding a mental breakdown.

"The monster is probably going for me instead of the others, that would explain the sudden change in its behaviour. Don't worry, the archers will help me, and it's best if no one else was in proximity to that thing. Ryada said it was stronger than fifty minotaurs in some way, I'd rather not risk your life."

"I- You- ...I understand." She answered, turning around and walking away with hesitation. She truly wanted to fight with him instead of seeing him alone, but knew that his decisions held truth behind them.

"No..." Ryada spoke, whispering, with the whisper slowly turning into a helpless scream. "No! Richard no! You're going to die! Don't do this! I beg you!"

"He'd not be doing this if he wasn't forced, Ryada." Nuri explained to her.

"No! No... No no no this isn't happening... This isn't happening!" She yelled, succumbing to despair and curling up in Nuri's hands.

Richard stood in place and changed the grip of his sword from his left hand to right hand, leaving his left hand only holding the shield. The elves had, too, finished preparing for the encounter, just as the rustling of the vegetation became louder and louder as moments passed.

All until the rustling abruptly turned into complete silence.

"Where are you now?" Richard whispered to himself, moving his eyes one side to the other. "Can't get some rest nowadays, can I?"

The elves kept their bows strung, even they were impatient.

A few moments passed until the monster made its appearance, a simple silhouette amongthe vegetation that slowly made its way forward, walking at a slower pace than that of a human. It was a horrifying sight, a monster with no equal that didn't seem like a common monster, but a nightmarish abomination. Its appearance was that of a human enveloped in giant plants, with her skin rotten and fused with the plant, given a green colour and great veins. Among her body were the different parts of the plant, be it leaves, the various stems, nodes, or the giant flowers. Her face was the most frightening part, but not because of any peculiar trait that evoked fear, it was the same as a woman with the green skin the plant gave her. What was frightening, however, was the fact that it had no expression, no life, nothing. It simply stared at Richard as it moved forward with her lifeless eyes and unchanging void expression.

Without delay, the elves began firing immediately. Dozens on arrows impacted against the monster at the same time, piercing through its skin like an arrow would against a mere plant, but causing no visible hinderance to the monster. Despite having a great quantity of arrows stuck in its body, it regenerated around the wound and broke the arrows, making them fall to the ground and if the regeneration crushed the arrows from inside, leaving only the shaft that had fallen.

The elves did not give up. They kept firing arrows at the monster despite not having a clear result.

Richard narrowed his eyes at the little effect the arrows had. He figured that meeting the monster head-on was the next thing to do, believing that the power of a sword strike would suffice in causing enough damage. And if it did, he only needed to repeat the strikes over and over again until sucessful. He began walking forward to the monster, with the monster doing the same.

Once close enough, Richard decided to give first blood. Swiftly, he raised his shield and swung his sword to the monster, firmly striking against its head and digging into it down to its jaw. Its anatomical strength was far weaker than that of a human, most likely influenced by the plant's influence on the woman. Immediately, he pulled his sword out and saw how the head split into two, stepping back to see the result of his actions.

His skin turned pale under his armor once he saw the small tendrils inside her head connecting each side to the other and uniting again, until both sides of the split head fused together again and healed, as if he had done nothing at all. His attack had done no harm.

Ryada and Nuri could do nothing but stare. Nuri was just focused on how the fight would develop, knowing nothing of the monster to evaluate if Richard was winning or losing, although with the slight despair that she had once she saw the monster regenerating.

Ryada, on the other hand, was pulling her ears in grief and anxiety of seeing Richard fighting the monster and knowing very well he was losing miserably. She could do nothing but stare in shock at the very same thing she had tried to prevent happening before her eyes.

The monster, all of a sudden, aimed one of her giant flowers towards Richard. Richard stepped back, unsure of what the monster was thinking of doing and raised his shield in preparation, believing a projectile would be shot. What he had not expected was a strange, pink mist being expulsed of the flower and engulfing him in a cloud.

"...What?" He questioned, confused.

The gas was not toxic, nor did it smell of anything. However, before he could even react and step out, he felt how his mind went numb and lost feeling over most of his body. With all his strength and remaining consciousness, he quickly pushed himself away from the cloud, falling to the ground as consequence of not being able to coordinate his own movements efficiently anymore. By the time he fell, the gas had reached its peak in his anatomy. He was left immobile with no strength, and wth barely the consciousness required just to remain awake. He was disoriented and looking at the sky, with his vision blurred and unable to comprehend the situation anymore.

"No!" Ryada screamed, aware of what the gas would cause even before he fell.

The monster began moving closer and closer to Richard despite being covered in arrows.

"Nuri! Nuri you have to pull him away!" She begged Nuri, who was shocked and in trance.

"Y-Yes!" She acknowledged. Thanks to her screams, Nuri snapped out of her thoughts and quickly left Ryada on the ground, running as fast as her legs allowed towards Richard.

Immediately as she arrived, she grabbed Richard below the shoulders and began pulling him away, only to raise her head and notice the monster up close, a sight that left her struck in place in fear and hopelessness. The monster's lifeless eyes turned to Nuri, who was frightened beyond measure. Forcing herself to move, Nuri quickly began pulling Richard away from the monster.

The monster aimed her giant flower towards Nuri, who saw and desperately applied even more strenght in pulling Richard to safety. The flower, however, was shot off aim by an arrow impacting against its solid base, causing the gas to be shot out elsewhere.

"They're going to die..." Ryada lamented, moving closer and closer to her breaking point. "They're going to die... I'll be alone again... I'll die too... Why?!" She grabbed her head and began pulling her hair. "Why do these things happen!? Why to me!? Why does everyone die!? Why can't I do anything at all but watch!?"

Slowly, her desperation turned into hatred. Hatred against herself, but still hatred.

"Why am I so weak?!" She yelled, seeing Nuri unable to do anything but move further away from the monster. "No, that's it. I'm weak. I'm too weak to do anything, I got them into this, it's my fault they're in this situation... I'm weak, I'm stupid, why!? No, I can't even find an excuse... Even if I'm weak, I couldn't find a way to prevent this, I'm an idiot! I'm an idiot who could have prevented this somehow... I'm an idiot for not knowing how!"

Her breath became hevier and heavier after each word she had said. As her mind sunk deeper and deeper into a spiral that only caused her greater pain, she began remembering. She remembered about the coyote after she had freed her from the dungeon in the Sabasa castle, how she had told her not to let size dictate who she is. For her, in the current state of her mind, meant nothing else than her weakness meaning nothing. She could have changed things, yet succumbed to her lack of precaution. She believed that due to her stupidity of not simply ignoring the forest and going to Noah directly, they were paying with their lives.

"No excuses, then..." She whispered to herself. "How many more have to die...? Do I have to die for this to end?"

She raised her head to the monster, the one who was the greatest threat, and potentially the one to end their lives.

"That thing... Because of me..." She muttered. "That thing... If it's the last thing I do, I'll kill it... I don't care anymore... I'll kill it!" She yelled, standing up. "You are the reason they are going to die, I am the reason you are going to die! Even if I fail, even if I die, I'll not let you do anything if the last thing I can do is throw my life away to prevent it!"

Furious and filled with newfound motivation, she stared at the monster walking closer and closer to Nuri and Richard. Richard could do nothing, the gas had left him unable to aid in any way. Nuri would end up the same as him if she were to fight on, and the arrows could not harm the monster.

As if a revelation came to her, Ryada noticed the fire that burnt on Nuri's tail. Fire, a possible element to kill the monster that was made of vegetation. It may regenerate, but it was still a plant. Not only that, she could remember how Richard said fire had killed the monsters that attacked San Ilia. The problem was getting the fire to the monster, she could not and would not risk Nuri getting close to it, but in a short time she could come up with a solution after seeing the arrows still striking at it.

"Clementine!" She screamed to the top of her lungs to the point her voice cracked while rushing to her.

"What do you need?" She questioned.

"Get two elves to save Richard!"

"Why? Nuri's already on it."

"Trust in me, I know what I'm saying!"

Clementine was skeptical, but it didn't take long for her to assess the situation and realize that anything, even the craziest plan had better chances of success than simply attacking the monster to no avail.

"You two!" She yelled at two elves who were on a branch shooting their arrows at the monster. Their attention shifted to Clementine after hearing the call. "Get down there and keep the human safe, tell the salamander to come here!"

As commanded, the two elves jumped down and rushed to Nuri's side. Without much effort, they grabbed Richard, still disoriented by the gas, and began dragging him away. Nuri, now free of any duty, ran towards Ryada and Clementine.

"What's going on?" She questioned upon arriving.

"Clementine, rip a piece of your clothes." Ryada ordered.

"-What? Why- Alright, alright." She questioned, realizing that her confusion would do nothing. With her sword, she cut a small part of the bottom of her skirt and held it on her hand. "What now?"

"Tie that thing to an arrow."

Confused but willing, she grabbed an arrow from the quiver on her side and tied the cloth on it, right behind the arrowhead.

"Now light it up with Nuri's tail."

"Salamander flames don't burn anything." Clementine stated, knowing of their characteristics.

"They do if I want it to." Nuri explained, moving her burning tail towards her.

Clementine moved the arrow with the cloth tied on it closer until it caught fire, pulling it away.

"Now shoot the monster with it."

Clementine's eyes widened, suddenly realizing what Ryada had planned.

"...Ryada you're a genius." She complimented her while carefully taking out her bow.

Taking care of not setting it on fire, she nocked the arrow, drew the string enough for the flaming cloth not to come into contact with the wood of the bow, and aimed it at the monster. It was catching up with the two elves, who were slowed down by the sheer weight of Richard's armor and their race's lack of strength.

The sound of the arrow being let loose could be very well heard, with the trail of smoke and ashes following the arrow as it flew among the trees of the forest, finally impacting against the monster's torso. It did nothing at first, but it was not planned for the arrow to cause anything, just to be a carrier.

"Come on..." Ryada whispered, staring impatient at the arrow stuck on the monster.

The monster regenerated its wound, breaking the arrow's shaft at the point of entry and causing it to fall down along with the flaming rag, leaving the three of them with an expression of hopelessness.

However, their expressions returned to joy and determination once they saw how part of the monster's torso had already caught fire before the arrow fell, leaving the flame to slowly spread further and further on its body.

"If this doesn't work we'll end up with that monster but on fire this time." Clementine stated, snickering at the hopelessness of the situation should it turn out to be true.

The monster, by the time the flames engulfed it completely, stopped on its place for a few moments immobile with the smoke of its burning skin and vegetation rising to the sky. Then, it slowly leaned forward until it collapsed to the ground, unable to regenerate due to the fire burning it and leaving behind a charred remain.

Ryada was the first to cheer, the first one to slowly give a sadistic smile as it fell to the ground and laugh wildly once it collapsed, never to move again. Such was the intensity of her laughter that it left Nuri quite unnerved. The others, Clementine and the elves, began cheering once it became clear the monster was dead, raising their bows to the sky and yelling out of joy at what they had accomplished.

"I'm going to be honest." Clementine told Ryada. "That was the greatest surprise I could receive from you after returning."

Ryada, feeling accomplished, climbed up to Nuri's shoulder in an instant.

"Thanks, Clementine." She said. "Now, let's go."

The three of them quickly ran up to the two elves who gently left Richard on the ground. The effect of the gas that left him disoriented had lowered enough for him to regain awareness of his surroundings, grunting with a headache as he sat up, holding his head with one hand. The first thing he saw was Nuri and Ryada in front of him, making him remember how the same had happened with the sand worm. Staring around, he noticed the burning carcass of the monster he was fighting moments ago.

"Did you kill it?" He asked Clementine.

"Hey, hey, it wasn't my idea. Give the credit to Ryada."

"...Again?" He asked, turning his head to Ryada.

"You're an idiot." Ryada stated.

Richard simply rolled his eyes behind his visor, used to being insulted for several reasons.

Ryada climbed up him and moved under his hood, clinging to his chainmail scarf once more.

"Don't get into danger anymore." She stated, painfully aware that the situation they had placed themselves in was her fault, but knowing that Richard had a tendency to disregard his own safety for the sake of completing what was his current objective. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"I admire your courage." Clementine spoke up. "But it's almost suicidal. Not in a good way either."

"I did what I had to do."

"No, that's not it. You didn't even think about it, you decided to go against the monster despite knowing very well it was disproportionately powerful, even for you. It's like you knew that you were going to die, you didn't even bother coming up with a proper plan like my elves."

Richard became silent at her words.

"I have to agree with her." Nuri stated. "Remember the sand worm? You just went in without knowing what to do, just coming up with a solution when you were already pressured to do so. Against the vampire queen it was another matter entirely, even for me, but still."

"Thanks to Ryada you're alive," Clementine questioned. "And I don't even want to guess why you said 'again'. From what I can guess, you probably take everything head-on to the point you're living with the chance of death, or not even thinking you can die. Why?"

"...I don't know." He answered, lowering his head.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I don't know, alright? I can't even remember half my life now that I think about it."

Clementine became silent.

"...That might be amnesia, there is no way you can simply forget that much." She continued. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Well..." He began thinking. "Last thing... It was returning to San Ilia after waking up somewhere close to the forest between Natalia and Sabasa when I was already in the Unbaptized."

"Unbaptized?"

"It was a unit that assassinated monsters. Dangerous monsters like those minotaurs, not like Ryada."

Clementine raised her hand to her chin, confused.

"Nothing else? Nothing before that?"

"Can't remember anything before that point."

"Most likely you lost your memories somehow if your memories are so abrupt, the problem is I can't think of any monster with the ability to inflict amnesia."

"I don't know if it was a monster. I woke up, meaning I was unconscious for a while, and this armor can't be taken off without breaking it."

"I see- Wait what? Then how do you... Well... You know... Answer nature's call and stuff...?"

"...It's not welded together, it's pieced in a way only I know the way to 'unlock' it."

"Ah, I see. Anyways, you can spend the night here if you wish to. You're welcome to do so any time from now on after helping us with that monster, it's quite a miracle that Ryada's mind and Nuri's fire were here to save the day. Quite a funny coincidence that you managed to get them both together with you."

"Thanks for everything."

"Anytime. Night will arrive soon, I guess you have no options unless you're even more suicidal than I thought."

* * *

Night arrived in the Forest of Spirits. Nuri, Richard and Ryada were all sitting on a log in front of a campfire, with three other logs arranged around it where a few elves sat on, heating a piece of meat stuck on a stick.

Clementine arrived after a short while, holding three sticks with a piece of meat stuck on each of them. She handed one to Richard, one to Nuri, and kept the last one to herself as she sat on the log on the other side of the fire, opposite to Richard.

"Nuri, share that with Ryada." She stated, aware that Ryada would not be able to hold one at all. She moved the stick closer to the fire to heat the meat and turned her head to Richard. "If you have any questions, I'll answer them to the best of my knowledge."

"You've told me about the first human, do you know why he was here?" He asked, still experiencing the deja vu.

"I don't know the details, I was not present in that situation either nor have I met them personally. I don't know what exactly they were there for, but it had something to do with the wind spirit, Sylph. She left with them for reasons unknown to me."

"Who is Sylph?"

"She's an elemental spirit that controls the wind, a fairy. Not really that much to it. Just after they met her, I heard, another monster like the one we fought appeared. That was the second monster, the one you fought."

Richard's and Nuri's eyes widened at the revelation. Ryada, on the other hand, was unfazed. She had known about this long ago.

"The lamia attacked the monster with all her power, and let me tell you she was tremendously powerful, but could do nothing. It should have done something, her attack involved fire, but did nothing for some reason. The boy decided to fight the monster and won, I don't know how, perhaps it had something to do with that strange sword of his. The monster was probably better off at fighting other monsters instead of humans, whereas this one sought you immediately as you stepped into the forest."

"Do you know what happened in San Ilia?"

"I heard of that too, you have my condolences for what happened. I don't know if those monsters were related to this one, but there's always the possibility. This one and those in San Ilia were... Strange, for lack of a better word. Quite a confusing situation we have."

Richard could simply not shake off the sensation of having seen the boy and the lamia somewhere.

"Do you know where the boy and the lamia went to?"

"Sabasa."

"I was there, I was told he went to Noah, although it was from a vampire shapeshifter. Damned things."

"Then he must've visited this place before even going to Sabasa. If you want to find him, that's the only clue you have."

"We were headed to Noah at first." Nuri stated.

"I see. Then you have your objectives already set. Returning to the topic at hand, do you know anything about the monster? It's not native to these parts, I've never seen anything like it before."

"I know nothing about it nor about the ones that attacked San Ilia. I've studied the entire catalogs in San Ilia yet they had no information about them. I'm thinking they might be from Plansect, that's the only place that'd make sense to me. Two of the men in my unit headed to Noah, they probably looked for answers while I was in Sabasa."

"Unbaptized?"

"Yes. Two others went to gold. We're the only survivors from that minotaur ambush. Out of nineteen, only the five of us remained. We're wanted dead in San Ilia, so we have no intentions to return either."

"Unfortunate. Is finding the boy and the lamia the only reason you are going to Noah or are there other reasons?"

"I have nothing to do there to force me to go there. Once I got out of San Ilia the five of us scattered among the three other regions to warn the leaders of what happened in San Ilia. After that, I had nothing to do, I just followed whatever came up. I got dragged into many fights, but that's to be expected considering who I am and what I do best. To Noah, I was simply going to see how the others were doing, then head to Gold to do the same and regroup with the others. I also received a letter from someone in Gold, so more reasons to go there I guess.

"Any long-term objectives?"

"None. Only thing I'd call a long-term objective would be finding the boy you spoke of, for some reason I can't get him or the lamia off my head. If what you said about the amnesia was true, they might know something. They might also know something about what's happening in the world right now."

"I see. If you ever need a place to be in, the forest will always welcome you. Well, as far as 'welcome' goes for a forest like this. What worries me is where the monster lord is if she couldn't help us sooner."

"I appreciate the offer." He thanked her while standing up. "Come with me." He told her, walking into the woods away from the campfire.

Clementine, followed him without hesitation. She already trusted him enough to know him as a friend instead of a simple acquaintance.

Ryada and Nuri remained in place, eating after the nerve-wrecking fight.

"What do you need me for?" Clementine questioned after the two of them stopped walking, far enough from the campfire to not be heard nor seen, with the light of the fire being a mere small figure in the distance.

It wasn't complete midnight, being early enough for the silhouettes of eachother be seen, yet dark enough to be completely hidden were it not for being so close.

"For how long have you known Ryada?" He asked.

"Ever since her birth. Not just her in particular, I've known her family by the time she was born."

"What can you tell me about her?"

Clementine knew where he was heading with her questions. Silently, she moved to a tree and leaned on it with her back, sure that her explanations would be sorrowful at best.

"She was born in a family of forty. You might think that's a great number, but it does not matter at all when it comes to rats. She's the only one now, perhaps thanks to you saving her from nature's game. The life of a rat girl is depressing, all kinds of predators hunt them and they can't do anything but run and hide, they can't even fight back properly unless they overwhelm their opponent, but most of the time they lose more than what they win by simply running. Compared to other races, rat girls have the most numerous offsprings, but that's outweighed by how weak they are, by how many of them die. They lose their individuality in those numbers, and seeing their sisters die without being able to do anything... Breaks them. In order to survive, they have to give up their individuality for the sake of the group's well-being, sometimes sacrificing themselves to give the others a chance to escape. Their life is void, just striving to survive and be unseen for a chance to live another day, only to repeat the same thing until they die. And if they survive and have children, with luck the mother will die without seeing her children dying first. And what's worse, their population is bordering extinction due to the difficulty of them finding humans and the obvious shortcomings between a man and a rat girl."

Richard was silent. The words he heard were enough to leave him speechless, beginning to understand what Ryada had been through. Only then he realized how much Ryada cared for his well-being after risking his life, and how much she wanted to be someone important instead of being a burden. She wanted to make a difference where she couldn't long ago.

"What has she done so far in your company?" Clementine asked, breaking the silence.

"She might not be strong..." Richard answered, sitting down next to a tree. "But she's smart. She learns fast. She even managed to help me kill a tarantula, telling me to do the same as the minotaurs when they ambushed my unit. She barely even saw what happened, so it's impressive she could suggest that so soon. Not only that, back in Sabasa she managed to get eight monsters to fight for her and us. Last, but no less important, she decided to be my scout. She knows how small she is, and she's using that to her advantage now."

Clementine smiled with joy.

"So she got better..." She sighed with relief. "Listen Richard, you and Nuri are important to Ryada, do not forget that. The more she learns, the better she'll become, but don't forget that you have to be smarter too and not risk your life. I don't know how she'd react if she sees either you or Nuri losing their lives after knowing two great knights that she could count on to stand their ground in a fight. Don't go suicidal if you can avoid it, that should be your main goal for now until you find a way to recover from your amnesia."

"Main goal, huh..." He whispered to himself. "How old is Ryada?" He asked her.

"Five, six months probably."

"-What?"

"What? How old did you think she was?"

"Well... I dunno. Fifteen years, maybe."

"You... You don't know...?"

"What?"

"Rat girls have a far different life span than humans, perhaps the shortest of any monster."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh no..." She lamented herself as she brought her hand to her eyes. She was not annoyed by his lack of intelligence, she was sorrowful that the truth would leave him drained. "Rat girls..."

"...Yes?"

"Rat girls live for two years. Three at most."

"-What?!"

"Rat girls live fast and die young. Like normal rats, their lifespan is short. In terms of life span, she's around twenty years already, you have seen her acting a bit her age sometimes, perhaps younger. Rat girls mature fast, they have to due to their nature and short life."

Richard was struck. He had not realized that rat girls had that much similarity to normal rats. He was already assuming he'd be with Ryada for decades to come, but struck by the fact she would die in less than half a decade.

"I'm sorry to be the one who tells you this."

Having an idea of how he was taking the sudden truth, Clementine walked up to him and placed her hand over his shoulder to comfort him.

Deep down, Clementine felt something changing. She could feel her heart pounding once she was close to Richard, feeling something she had not felt since long ago. Inside, she could feel her body slightly burning and increasing in temperature with her.

Aware of what was happening inside of her, she quickly removed her hand from Richard's shoulder and stepped back, wishing to prevent what was painfully clear would happen.

It was all too sudden for her, taking only the time span between her removing her hand and Richard turning towards her. Her body burned inside, her face became scarlet red and her eyes widened with lust. Her monster qualities were taking hold, unable to hold back her lust. By the time Richard had turned to look at her in confusion, she threw herself to Richard and tackled him, aiming to throw him down to the ground and immobilize him.

Richard, falling to the ground, quickly grabbed Clementine by the neck with his right hand and her shoulder with his left, using his strength to make her fall to the ground first. As soon as they impacted, taking opportunity of Clementine taking the blunt force of the fall, he wrestled with her until he held her head against the ground sideways with his left hand, her right arm high above with his right hand, her left arm pressed against the ground with his left knee, and his right foot on her back to prevent her from standing up and fighting back. As soon as both their eyes met, Richard slowly shook his head.

"I... I tried to rape you, didn't I?" Clementine asked, heartbroken.

"Yes."

"...I see. You can... Let me go now."

"I can not trust you not to try that again."

"Even if I do, you already told me how your armor is. I can't do anything."

"Then why did you still attempt to rape me?"

"I couldn't think straight. It has been so long since the last time... I couldn't stop myself as much as I tried. Forgive me... Please..."

Richard sighed and let go of her head and right arm, then stepped off her back and stood up, leaving her left arm free. With great effort, Clementine stood up next, embarrassed of what she had gone through. For her, it was embarrassing to have succumbed to her lust for Richard after aiding Ryada so much, and having enough reasons to believe she would never allow himself to be taken advantage of. If it was any other man, she would have had no problem, but she felt that her instincts betraying both her and him.

"What drove you to that decision?" Richard questioned her, making sure she was not hurt.

"What do you mean?"

"Every monster I've come across in the wild had intented to rape me. Why do you monsters have that 'need'?"

"It's... It's how we were created. I don't know why, but it feels like I am required to do so. It's a burning desire in me that makes me ignore everything except my own survival... I don't know how to explain it..."

Richard brought his gauntlet to his helmet's chin, thinking.

"I guess that's something..." He whispered to himself after a thought crossed his mind.

"What's in your mind?"

"You said that the rat girls are going extinct because of the difficulty of finding men, right?"

"Yes. They can't even have sexual relations with men due to their size, they have to extract the semen somehow and... Well... I'd rather not get into details..."

"Answer me this. If you have sex with a man, would that impulse go away? Even if you somehow married one?"

"I assume so, yes."

"I see... Then I guess my theory has a base. Humans in the southern regions are aggressive against monsters, shunning them. It might be mere coincidence, but there is the possibility that monsters are trying to reproduce, having to rape men to not go extinct like the rat girls..."

"That's a very smart theory, but it's still a theory. I'm an elf, the closest thing to a human regarding anatomy and mentality, I'd not say the same about a tarantula girl or, worse yet, a succubus."

"Succubus..." Richard whispered to himself in irritation, soon shaking off his thoughts. "I was not assuming my theory was true, but it's still better than being blind about the subject. Although there is one thing..."

"Which is?"

"What brought man and monster to fight eachother to begin with. Considering the intentions of the monsters, humanity would not act as aggressivel at first, so they'd not be as aggressive now."

"I don't know about that, but it might have something to do with the more violent and forceful monsters I mentioned."

"True, but then they alone would have been shunned, not monsterkind as a whole. Have anything to add to this theory of mine?"

"None, you hit right in the bullseye on everything I know."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"You should. Anyways, you were going to Noah, right?"

"Yes."

"Be careful around those parts. I heard bad things of that place that have been happening recently, yet not enough to actually figure what's going on there."

"What? How long ago?"

"I don't know, but it was recent."

"Did you hear anything about it ending?"

"No, why that question in particular?"

"Sabasa also got attacked at the same time as San Ilia. I fear Noah suffered the same, but knowing the two guys that went to Noah they probably took care of it, unless something else happened."

"I don't know what to tell you, normally rumors take days to reach here if not weeks."

He sighed at the lack of information he received, but it was still better than nothing.

"Thanks, I guess."

"You've done enough to deserve our respect, no need to thank me. Now, we need to find you and the others a place to sleep, don't we?"


End file.
